A New Member of the Family
by chelsea1234
Summary: This is the third in my series starting with Abby Covers for Sarah, followed by Sarah and Abby Cover for Each Other.In this story Abby and Tim adopt a little boy named Dylan.Chapters will more than likely contain spanking. McAbby some Ziva
1. Chapter 1

A New Member of the Family

Chapter1

Tim and Abby sat in the living room of their new house looking nervously at the photo on the coffee table before them. The months of planning, interviews, filling out reams of paper work, medical checks etc for them AND Sarah and tomorrow was the big day. The day they could collect their new son.

Dylan was 10 years old, had dark blonde hair and blue eyes. He had been in the foster care system for four years. They had met him on numerous occasions and even had an overnight stay at the old apartment but tomorrow night would be his first night in his permanent home, as their son.

So far, he'd seemed extremely easy to please and very happy that he was going to be a part of their family. But their visits were limited. Tim and Abby and even Sarah had also been eager to please HIM, they all loved him already. His room had been decorated in his favourite colours. He had a big screen TV with a new games console,with tons of games and more toys and books than you could imagine. Tim had been a bit worried that they may have gone overboard but Abby had wanted to give him everything that she thought a ten year old boy could possibly want or need. They had even chosen a house with a pool. She wanted to make up for his rough start in life.

"Abby I........"Tim started but was choosing his words very carefully. He didn't want Abby to get the wrong idea or to take offence at what he thought he had to say. "Abby I don't want you take offence so please hear me out before you jump to any conclusions. You know that I love Dylan and I can't wait for tomorrow but I think we need to talk about how we're gonna handle things."

"What do you mean 'handle things' Tim."she said suspiciously.

"Well,...... I mean every day things like structure and discipline....... You know like bed times, eating times.... rules of the sort of thing." he said warily.

"Tim, we have a few days off to help him settle in, we don't really need to hound him with a bunch of rules right off. We can afford to be a little bit lenient for a few days, can't we?" Abby said starting to narrow her didn't like where this was going at all.

"No Abs, I don't think we can. You know what we've been told. These kids settle in better when they know what's expected of them. They need to know the rules. They need boundaries. They need a routine." Tim said his voice becoming firmer.

"McGeee!!! 'These kids' How can you POSSIBLY know what it's like to have been in FOSTER CARE or to have had to go WITHOUT? I just wanna spoil him a LITTLE bit. I know what they said but I really don't think they meant Dylan. He's such a sweet little boy and HE'S OUR SON! How can you not wanna give him everything?" Abby said stamping her foot.

Tim stood too, not wanting to give her the height advantage which would help to set her temper tantrum really going. "Abby you need to calm down. We're just talking about a few simple everyday rules here.I do wanna give him everything that he needs. I just think that the MOST important thing he needs is a stable and loving home and that includes structure."

Just then Sarah decided to make an appearance. Walking through the living room she smiled at their spat. Like many that she had witnessed before, they were never serious, and kind of reassuring in a way. Everything was always resolved by breakfast. (Even if it did involve Abby avoiding actually sitting at the table unless Tim insisted). "Don't mind me, just passing through to get a drink. Although, if you want my opinion, I agree with Abby Tim, there are way too many rules around here." She said scooting past and up the stairs before he could swat her. "Let's have a rule free weekend, help the kid really settle in."

"Thanks Hun, NOT HELPING." Abby shouted up the stairs. "I'm not suggesting that we let him run wild exactly Timmy I just think we should wait a bit before we scare him with a bunch of rules. We didn't make a lot of rules for Sarah straight up did we?"

"AH....no ......no....we didn't. As I seem to recall that didn't go so well. Remember?" Tim said sarcastically.

"This is different. Before you say anything about the whole sibling rivalry thing. I love Sarah as if she was my own child but she's a teenage girl. HER acting out was bordering on dangerous. Dylan is just a little boy. What could he possibly do?"

"Famous last words Abs. Let's ask Dinozzo. I bet he's got plenty of naughty boy stories to tell. Any way, I'm his Dad and if I want to talk to him about what I expect I will." Tim said putting his hands on his hips to match Abby's fully intended to put his foot down.

"Well I'm his Mom and if you do I'll.......I'll...........I'll tell him not to listen." She said childishly. As soon as the words were out of her mouth she regretted them. "Tim ....I ....I ...didn't REALLY mean that I'd tell him not to listen." She said backing away.

"We are not going there again Abigail!" Tim said approaching the retreating Abby. "If you make this little boy think I'm the enemy he'll never trust Me." he said trying to calm down. He really didn't want this evening to be spoilt with a silly argument.

"Oh Timmy I would never wanna do that." She said sincerely. "I just want it all to be perfect."

"I know Abby, but nothing's perfect. There's gonna be rough times, I just think it would help, make him feel more secure if he new what was gonna happen if he messes up."

"We'll love him anyway even if he does mess up." Abby said crossing her arms

"Of course we will Abs but we're his parents. It's up to us to teach him right and wrong."

Seeing that he had a point and that she wasn't going to win here Abby decided to go for a compromise. "Ok we'll talk about limits but NO SPANKING." She said firmly."He's been through enough already."

"That's a start." He answered."But Abs he wasn't an abused child. He lost his family in an accident."

"What kind of rules were you thinking?" She asked.

"Well, I'm thinking meals on time, bedtime eight thirty, shower after dinner, teeth brushing before bed." He started.

"Ok. Maybe a bit later on weekends for the bedtime?"Abby added.

"Sounds reasonable."

"Television or video games one hour a day after homework when school goes back?" Tim suggested.

"Agreed." Abby said.

"Dylan can't swim, so we'll get lessons but this one for the time being is not negotiable. No going anywhere inside the pool fence without adult supervision."

"Deal. But, no spanking!" Abby said.

Tim thought for a minute. "I won't agree to no spanking ever Abby. Sometimes it's needed. Spanking as a last resort. But if it involves the pool fence or something equally as dangerous then I WILL spank him."

Abby studied Tim's face. Realising she wouldn't get a better answer than that tonight she gave in. For now. "If that's your last word McBossy boots." She said pouting slightly.

"It is." Tim said lifting her chin with his finger. "And if I find out that you've covered for him, to keep him from a spanking, then I will consider it lying. That didn't go so well either last time did it."

"No." she said."Not for me!"

"Come on let's go to bed. Tomorrow's a really big day. I don't know about you but I can't wait. The sooner we get to bed the sooner it will be tomorrow." Despite having to act the grown up for his talk with Abby, Tim was feeling like a kid at Christmas. Hand in hand they went to check out all of Dylan's cool new stuff before they retired to their room. This was gonna be the best present either of them had ever received.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you so much for the reviews and alerts. I do really appreciate them :)

Chapter 2

Tim was struggling to make sleep come. It was particularly difficult with Abby bouncing in and out of bed every ten minutes to check she hadn't forgotten anything. To fold and refold clothes and check there sizes. At one point he nearly drifted off only to be woken thinking he might have been in interrogation. Abby turned on the lamp and pointed it directly in his face along with the comforter she had removed from Dylan's bed. "Do you think this is the right shade of blue Timmy? I know that he said that blue was his favourite but do you think this is the RIGHT shade of blue?" Abby said.

"What? I can't SEE anything Abs. I think you've blinded me."

"Your not blind Timmy, open your eyes silly. Do you think this is the right blue?" she asked waiting for an answer.

"Huh...." Tim scoffed squinting his eyes in the bright light. "Abby for a start, he's a boy. He won't care, he'll love it. But what I really think, is that you better put that back and get into bed before you end up having to sleep on your tummy. It's really late."

"Wow! You're cranky. I was just asking." Abby said poking out her tongue.

"Now! Abby!" Tim said losing patience.

"Ok, ok geez! I can't help it Tim, I'm not tired. I'm too excited." She said climbing in beside him.

"I know you are but we need our sleep before tomorrow." He said pulling her to him and kissing the back of neck.

They lay quietly for all of about fifteen minutes before Abby tried to escape again. "That's it!" Tim said turning her over and landing a half a dozen hard smacks on her bottom. He pulled her towards him and covered her with a heavy arm "Sleep." He said drowsily. Finally they drifted off to sleep.

The three of them were up bright and early the next morning, dressed and ready to go. They decided to eat breakfast on the way so they didn't have to waste time. It also meant no mess to clean up. While they were gone, Tony and Ziva,Gibbs, Ducky and even Jimmy were coming over to get everything ready for lunch. It wasn't really a party as such just a barbeque out by the pool so that Dylan could spend some time with his extended family. They had already gotten to know him when Tim and Abby had had home visits and he had worked his way into their hearts already.

At the home Tim and Abby had been ushered into a room to fill out the last of the paperwork while Sarah waited outside with Dylan.

Dylan knew that it wouldn't be long before they were engulfing him with the hugs and kisses that he had become accustomed to and even looked forward to, especially from Abby. It felt a little strange at first but it didn't take long to get used to. It felt good to know that Abby loved him so much and even at such a young age he knew that hugging was as much a part of her as everything else that made her Abby. Dylan had never met anybody like Abby but that's what made her special. Sarah was nearly as bad with the hugging so he guessed this must be a girl thing. Tim hugged him too sometimes and messed up his hair or kissed the top of his head. He didn't hug him all the time like Abby did but he loved being with Tim. He played video games and other stuff with him. Tim read him stories and all kinds of good stuff. Sometimes he grouched. Not at him, it was usually at Sarah when she argued back or swore. But she WAS funny. Really funny. Dylan couldn't believe he finally had a family, especially a Mom and Dad like Tim and Abby. He just hoped they didn't change their mind. He decided that Sarah might know what things he should or shouldn't do to make them not want to send him back.

"Sarah?" he said quietly.

"Yeh kid?" she said "Whatta ya need?"

"Um.........do you......think....they might.....bring me back...?" Dylan said "You know if I'm bad?"

"Never!" Sarah said giving him a reassuring hug. "No matter what you did, even something really bad, they would still never bring you back. You're ours now. We're family."

"What happens to you if you're bad?" he asked her curiously.

"Doesn't happen much. I'm pretty perfect."she said jokingly."You don't have to worry about them squirt. They're good people. You got lucky. In fact I'd say you could ask Abby for just about anything at the moment and she wouldn't say no. That's how happy she is that you're coming to live in our family."

"What about Tim isn't he happy?"

"Well of course he is. He loves you and now he has a son. That's made him over the moon. But Abby is really the easy one. I'll show you on the way play a game with them. All you have to do is ask for McDonalds on the way home." Just then their conversation was interrupted with an opening door and his world changed forever because now he was Dylan McGee.

In the car on the way home Dylan spoke up. "What do I have to call you guys?"he said.

Tim and Abby looked at each other. "What would you feel comfortable calling us Dylan?" Tim said. Abby held her breath.

"Could............would it........be .....Ok if I called you MOM and Dad?"

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Abby shouted from the front seat punching the air with her fists. At Tim's stilling hand on her knee she said more sedately "That would make us really happy."

"Yes it would Son." Tim said beaming at Abby and then the two in the back seat.

Looking at Sarah, Dylan said. "So are you my sister or what?"

"I guess I kind of am. Technically I'm your Aunt but you can just call me Sarah or Sar or whatever you like really."Sarah said writing an M on his leg with her finger.

"Ok." He said. "When are we gonna be home. I'm starving. Could we have McDonalds ." Sarah gave him the thumbs up sign.

"No not this tim........" Tim started to say until Abby pinched him on the leg. Giving Abby a warning glare he tapped her lightly on the offending hand and completed his sentence. "We'll go to McDonalds tomorrow if you like but today Gibbs, Tony, Ziva, Jimmy and Ducky are coming to our house to have a barbecue."

Abby narrowed her eyes telling him without words that he was being mean. Sarah from the backseat discretely pointed to Abby and mouthed "try again."

"Please Mom? Can I please have McDonalds it's a long way 'til lunch, I'll still eat my food at home."Dylan sing songed. He did feel a bit bad but he didn't want Sarah to think he was lame.

Before Tim could stop her the words were out. "Of course Bud, I'm not gonna let my baby go hungry am I?" she said glaring at Tim who was really not pleased. Sarah discretely gave Dylan a high five and grinned.

Oh Yeh! She thought. I like this 's good!

Tim took a big breath. He wasn't happy that he'd been put in this position but his gut was telling him to stick to his guns and not only for Dylan's sake. "Sorry little buddy but not this time but we'll be home real soon and I'm sure the others have cooked up a storm. After lunch I'll take you in the pool ok?"

"Yay! Thanks Dad." he said. Will Tony come in the pool too?"

"I'm sure he will." Tim said smiling. There, that hadn't been so bad. Until he looked over at Abby. She was pissed. He tried to take her hand but she pulled it away. He tried to make eye contact, she looked out the window. He put his hand on her leg and she brushed it away. When they pulled up at a stop light, Tim did the last thing he could think of, he signed the few words that Gibbs had taught him for just such an occasion. "KNOCK IT OFF NOW OR ELSE!!!!

Abby looked at him stunned and signed back MAKE ME!

Luckily for Abby, Tim didn't know what she'd said but he stored it in his memory banks to ask Gibbs later and as far as he was concerned it better be "Yes Tim."

Luckily as they pulled into the driveway Abby was hit with another bout of enthusiasm at the prospect of showing Dylan all the new things in his room and by all the familiar cars parked out the front. Their friends were obviously here getting things organised as they'd promised. As the thought crossed her mind, they all came bustling out of the house to greet the newest Mcgee.

After all the hugs, kisses and congratulations, the family all went on a tour of Dylan's new room. Dylan himself was speechless. He walked slowly around the room touching everything very gently, when he came across something he really liked he just stared at it. "You can pick it up and play with it." Tim said gently. "It's yours. All of it."

"Really?" he said.

'Of course!" Abby said enthusiastically. "This is your room and everything in it is yours to do as you please."

Tim turned to Gibbs with a worried look. He answered him with an almost invisible nod. "You lot, with me!" he said. "We better get back to the barbeque before the food spoils." He marched out and the others followed realising that Tim needed a bit of private time with his family.

When the others had gone down stairs Tim gently shut the door. "let's all sit here and talk. "Dylan, Abby is right. This room and everything in it belongs to you. I think though she may have misled you though just a little bit. You see although you own this stuff, you're only a little boy and your not old enough to decide everything that's good for you. Did you have rules at the home?"

"Yes."

"Ok, well it's the same here. Just a few simple rules."

"You can watch TV or play video games two hours a day until school goes back and then it's one hour a day after your homework is done. You have a shower after dinner and brush your teeth before bed. Your bedtime is eight thirty on school nights and nine thirty on weekends. You can play out in the cul-de-sac with the other kids but you can't go away with out telling one of us where you're going and you must be inside the house by six. The next one is really important because you can't swim yet. You are never to go inside the pool fence if you're not with an adult. If you do you'll be punished. Don't tell lies. Is there anything you didn't understand?" Tim asked.

"No, that's fine." He said smiling. "Can I play my video game now?"

"Of course you can." Abby and Tim said together.

"We'll just be downstairs with the others you just take your time and have a look at all your things." Abby said hugging him again and kissing the top of his head.

"Well that didn't go bad at all." Tim said as they were walking down the stairs.

"I still think your coming across too hardassy." Abby grumbled.

"Abby don't do this. Please? Tim pleaded.

"Do what?"

"Pout because you didn't get your own way. You're fighting for something that he doesn't even care about. Does he look unhappy to you?"

"Well no." she said begrudgingly.

"Just love him Abs. That's enough." Tim then pulled her into a massive hug. "Can you believe it? We became parents today."

"I know Timmy!" she said excitedly jumping up and down. "We're a Mom and Dad."

As they went into the yard Abby went over to talk to Ziva and Tony and Tim went to see Gibbs at the barbeque. "Can I ask you a question?" he asked Gibbs

"Shoot."

"What does this mean?"Tim replicated the sign that Abby had given him in the car.

Gibbs laughed out loud.

"What? Is it bad?'" Tim asked with exsasperation.

"Let's just say someones looking for a spanking already and it's not your son!"

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

A very big thankyou to everyone who took the time to review or who alerted etc It means a lot to really does :)

Chapter 3

Abby was deep in discussion with Ziva. She had to tell someone how unfair Tim was being. Tony being Tony had been listening discretely while tossing a basketball through the new hoop that Abby had had installed yesterday. When he heard the word unfair, he couldn't hold his tongue anymore. "Unfair Abs? Don't you think that's a bit of an extreme word to use to describe McKindheart? Are you sure you think it's unfair to expect your kid to tow the line a bit?"

Abby put her hands on her hips and was ready to tell him exactly what she thought but she was suddenly distracted by what she saw over at the barbecue area. Gibbs appeared to be teaching Tim more sign language. UH OH! I think he's translating something that Tim is showing him. Now he's showing how to say something. Before she could figure out what exactly he was teaching him, Tim started to come towards her signing to her along the way. "Upstairs NOW!!!!"

"Shit"!!! Abby didn't bother with sign language, the word had just slipped out. She almost considered staying put and bluffing him out with more sign language that he didn't understand but with his accomplice and translator standing across the yard waiting for the show, she new the jig was up. With the determined look on Tim's face and the looks of amusement on most of their guest's faces she decided just this once to cut her losses and make a break for it.

She ran inside the house and up the stairs. When she reached the bedroom she slammed the door and locked it. Unfortunately it wasn't much of a plan. Actually it wasn't a plan at all. In hindsight it was pretty stupid. As if Tim was just gonna go away. She paced up and down trying to think of what she should do now.

Tim wasn't very far behind her. He tried the door but realised it was locked. Mindful that Dylan and Sarah were in their rooms across the hall, he knocked quietly. When there was no answer, he knew he was in for a fight. Crossing to Dylan's room he called from the doorway, "Come on Dylan, Tony wants to shoot some baskets with you." He said smiling.

He took the little boy downstairs and asked Tony quietly if he would keep him amused for a little while.

Tony looked from Tim to Dylan and upstairs towards the window. "Hey Sport." He said immediately. Want a play some one on one?"

"Alright!" Dylan said excitedly.

Abby's thinking didn't get her very far. It wasn't as if Tim was just gonna go away. There's no way he was gonna back down. Maybe she should open the door and surrender, try to negotiate her spanking. At best she could get him to put it off until everyone had gone home and the kids were asleep. "Timmy?" she said quietly. Nothing. "Timmy?" She opened the door a crack and stuck her head out. "Crap!" she thought. He's clearing the building. It's worse than I thought.

Tim checked that everyone was alright for drinks and then went back upstairs leaving Ducky and Gibbs discussing the situation amongst them selves.

"So I take it young Abigail has got herself into some strife again Jethro?"

"You thought right Ducky."

"Well.... there's bound to be a period of adjustment. They'll work it out." Ducky said thoughtfully.

"Won't take long." Gibbs said smirking "I think McGee is working it out on her ass as we speak."

"Oh dear." Ducky said "Still there's not a more gentle soul than our Timothy. She'll be safe.

"That she will Duck. She's in good hands." He said laughing again at his own bad joke.

Hearing footsteps on the stairs Abby gently shut the door and turned the key. .Crap! She thought pacing up and down. "What's the next plan genius!" she muttered to herself.

Tim smiled as he passed their room and heard Abby's tell tale muttering. He knew she was nervous and trying to figure out a way to get out of trouble. She WAS cute when she was being a pain in the ass he thought.

Going into Sarah's room he said "Can you go downstairs and help Ziva and Ducky set out the salad's please Sar?"

"Sure thing." She knew something was up but she didn't really feel like getting in the middle of it anyway.

Tim hung around for a few minutes to make sure Sarah had gone before going back to try the bedroom door again. He found it still locked. "Abby!" he said trying not to be too loud. "Open this door." Nothing. "If you don't open this door, I'm gonna leave you there and you can miss the entire afternoon, but I don't think that's a very good first day for Dylan do you? To have his Mom stuck in her room not wanting to come out and spend time with him."

Abby opened the door at once. "I don't wanna ruin his day. I just didn't wanna get spanked for sticking up for my son."

Tim entered the bedroom and shut the door. "He didn't need you to stick up for him; I didn't do anything except to say no. Parents say no sometimes Abby. That's not abuse. Your a parent now Abby but you've been acting like spoiled brat all morning and it's gonna stop now." He said grabbing her arm and towing her over to the bed.

He pulled her over his knee and flipped up her skirt. Tim didn't bother with a lecture Abby knew exactly what she'd done. He just got down to it, turning her ass a bright shade of red in not many minutes.

When he thought he'd made his point he gave her a hug and kissed the top of her head. "Please behave Abs. I don't wanna have to do this again today but if you keep forcing my hand we're just gonna keep coming back up here over and over until you stop. Now why don't you go fix your make up and put on your bikini or something and we'll go for a swim with the kids after lunch."

Abby's mouth fell open in shock. "You can't possibly expect me to wear a bikini NOW! Ducky and JIMMY are here!"

"I didn't think you got embarrassed." Tim said with a smirk.

"People knowing that you get your ass spanked is one thing McGloater, but putting SAID ASS on display with your handprints all over it, especially in front of our kids IS NOT GONNA HAPPEN."

"Then find something else to swim in." Tim said with a chuckle as he retreated out the door.

Opening and slamming doors Abby didn't know what she was going to do. She stripped her clothes off and looked in the mirror. "Shit!" she said staring at her reddened bottom in the mirror. She tried one swimsuit after another still not able to find one that hid her rear end.

After a while there was a gentle knock on the door. "It is just me Abby."Ziva said softly.

"Come in." she said exasperated.

"Can I help?" she asked

"Tim wants to go swimming." Abby said grumpily.

"You do not like to swim?"

"I do but I can't find anything that I can wear."

"What are all these bikinis and one piece suits?"

"That's not the problem."

"Abby I am confused. What is the problem?"

Abby slowly turned around.

"Oh.........Ohhhhhh!!!!" Ziva said hiding a smile behind her hand.

"It's not funny Ziva! What am I gonna wear.?"

"Ah..........I think......you are looking in the wrong place." Going over to McGee's side of the closet she opened a few drawers and pulled out some board shorts. "Just put these on over your bikini" she said.

"But they're too big Abby wined."

"If you do not mind me saying Abby, you have not given YOURSELF many choices today. You can either wear McGee's swimming shorts or McGee's handprints. The choice is yours but I suspect if you not choose something and come to lunch, Tim may come and decide for you."

Abby put the board shorts on and they went down to join the others for lunch.

Abby went straight over to where Tony and Dylan and Jimmy were playing basketball. "Hey baby." she said to Dylan giving him a hug. "You having fun with Uncle Tony?"

"He's great! So's Jimmy.

"Aren't those a little too big Abby?" Jimmy asked "They look like they're Tim's not yours." He said chuckling. This earned Tim a glare from Abby (he just grinned back and blew her kiss) and Jimmy a head slap from Tony. In Jimmy's ear he whispered. "She's trying to hide McGee's handprints have some sensitivity."

"Where are Tim's handprints?" he asked...... "Ohhhh." He answered himself.

This earned Tony a head slap from Ziva. "How sensitive is it of YOU Tony to tell Jimmy of Abby's ass full of handprints."

Luckily Dylan had been dragged over to the food table by Sarah and he heard none of this whispered conversation or his mother's reply to them.

"Will all of you please just shut the hell up about my ass!" she hissed. "Now the food's getting spoiled. We're gonna eat and go for a swim and your all going to like it. Ya Hear? Everyone is going to STOP hitting everyone else and play nice or else.!"

"Or else what Abs?" Tony couldn't resist teasing with a smirk.

Abby stomped her foot. "NO DESERT ANTHONY! THAT'S WHAT!"

Fixing Tony with a glare Abby went back to make sure that Dylan had found enough to eat.

"Geez! He said "She really does sound like a Mom. That's scary."

Sarah sidled up to Tony. "Could you knock it off. She's the easy one. I hate it when you get her in that mood. Now she's not gonna be so easy to get around when I wanna go out later."

"If you're not doing anything that you shouldn't McBrat, why don't you just ask? Why do you have to go around anybody?" he said studying her face.

"Because it probably doesn't fit into the perfect family evening that Abby will want to have for Dylan. Everything revolves around making the world perfect for Dylan. I love him he's really cute. It's just Abby WITH him that's hard to take."

Sarah went over with Tony to get some food. She saw Dylan eating at the table and went to sit next to him with her plate. "Hey Kid! How's it goin?"

"Good." He said. "I love my room!"

"I know! They got you some pretty neat stuff, didn't they?"

"Yeh specially the TV. I've never seen a TV that big before."

"I know! You're very lucky. Like I said Abby will do anything for you. Did you like that little trick in the car?"

"It didn't work though I didn't get McDonalds."

"Yeh well maybe next time we should try it when they're not in the same place. How'd you like to do me a little favour?"

"What kind of a favour?"

"Not a very big one. All I want you to do is ask Abby if you can watch a movie tonight, just you and her and Tim with popcorn like the movies."

Dylan nodded. "Why?"

"Because they bought you all that nice stuff and it'll make them happy to know that you want to spend time with them."

Dylan grinned. "I'd like to do something to make them happy."

"I knew I could count on you." Sarah said giving him a sqeeze.

Later that afternoon Dylan was sitting on a lounge chair next to Abby drying off after their swim. "Can I ask you a question Mom?" he said.

"Of course you can bud anything." Abby said with a smile. She didn't think she would ever get tired of being called Mom.

"Tonight when everyone's gone home could we watch a movie with popcorn? Just you, me and Dad." He asked.

Abby stumbled a bit "Ah...........I .....I'm not sur........"

Sarah who hadn't been far away found her opportunity. "Don't worry about me Abs I'm really tired after all this sun."

"Are you sure Hun? Because I know Dylan wouldn't mind if you watched the movie with us?" Abby said. She really didn't want Sarah to feel left out.

Sarah could see Abby felt bad and she didn't want that but she really wanted to go out.

She had met a boy the other day at the mall. His name was Zac. He was cute and funny and she had said she would meet him tonight. She knew neither Tim nor Abby would be happy with her going out to meet a boy that she didn't really know, even if it was just to the movies. It was because of their jobs. They didn't trust anyone. Especially Tim. She just couldn't risk letting them scare away her friends again. Still she should let Abby off the was one thing to sneak out again but she didn't want Abs to think it was her fault or anything. "Could I talk to you alone a minute Abs?" she said.

"Sure Hun." Abby said turning to Dylan . "Why don't you go and see if Dad or Uncle Tony want to go back in the pool.O.K. sweetie?"

"Yes!!!" Dylan shouted running away.

"Something up Hun?" Abby said gently.

"No Abs I'm fine. It's just that I didn't wanna hurt Dylan's feelings. I really don't feel like watching a kids movie tonight. I'd rather just watch MTV or something in my room and then go to sleep early. I just didn't want you to feel guilty about not including me when you're doing me a favour by not making me do the whole kids movie thing." She said giving Abby a hug so that she didn't have to look her in the eye.

"Well if you're sure. No problem. Why don't you go and swim with the others while they're still here." Abby said. I'm off to find something with caffeine in it.

A few hours later when their visitors had all gone home, Tim was setting up the movie while Abby was in the kitchen making popcorn. Sarah came down to kiss them goodnight. She had showered and blow dried her hair and was just in a robe tied in the middle. Giving them all a quick hug one by one she said them good night and went to her room.

When she was safely inside, she locked the door. Dumping the robe in her closet, she applied a little make up, straightened her clothes and climbed out of the window and down the trellis making her escape, running and not stopping until she came to Zac's car.

Dylan was as happy as a clam watching the movie wedged between his Mom and Dad eating popcorn. "Anyone want anything from the kitchen?" Tim asked getting up.

"Could I please have a drink?" Dylan asked.

"Sure Bud what would you like? Juice, milk, water?"

"Juice please."

"Juice it is. Abs?"

"The usual please." she said. "Oh and Tim why don't you take some juice up to Sarah. She seems a bit quiet. Maybe she got a bit much sun."

"Do you think she needs some aspirin or something?"

"Ask her if she needs some."

"Will do."

A couple of minutes later Tim came back down. "Ah..... Abby ...her doors locked."

"Did you call her, maybe she's asleep."

"I don't think she's asleep Abs."

"Oh no! She wouldn't."

"Ya think?"

"She would."

"She asked to talk to me today, she said she didn't wanna watch the movie tonight because she was tired." Abby said trying to remember exactly what she said.

"Whose idea was the movie?" Tim asked Abby. Dylan just sat staring at the movie hoping nobody would notice him.

"Dylan's." Abby said. "Wasn't it honey. He asked if we could watch a movie together just the three of us." Tim gave Abby a sarcastic look.

"Oh No! Dylan honey, Was it really your idea to watch the movie?" Abby asked him.

He said nothing. Tim moved in front of him, Abby started to panic. He squeezed her hand to reassure her. "Dylan, I'm going to ask you a question and you have to answer me. So far you're not in trouble but you have to tell us the truth or you will be. Do you understand?"

Dylan nodded, obviously nervous. "Was the movie Sarah's idea?" he nodded again. "Why do you think she wanted us to watch a movie?" Tim asked gently.

"I don't know. She asked me to do it as a favour. I wanted to make you happy because you bought me all the nice things for my room."

"Is that what Sarah told you? That you should make us happy?"

Dylan nodded again sadly. "She said I was very lucky. But that's true I am lucky and it was nice that you bought all that stuff and that's why I did it."

"Dylan you shouldn't have really done that just because Sarah told you to, but I don't think you thought you were doing something bad. This is not your fault. Sarah wanted to do something (God knows what. He thought) and she knew that your Mom and I wouldn't let her. So she got you to keep us busy so we wouldn't notice her sneaking out."

"Is she in big trouble?" Dylan asked .This wasn't good. Sarah was gonna hate him if she was in big trouble. He shouldn't have told.

"She sure is!" Abby and Tim said together.

Dylan promptly burst into tears.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

Thankyou everyone for your alerts and lovely reviews. Keep em coming! It makes it alot easier to write with feedback :)

Chapter 4

Abby went immediately over to Dylan and wrapped him in a big hug. "Shhh it's gonna be O.K. Why are you crying honey are you worried about Sarah?"

Dylan nodded. "She's.......gonna........she's........gonna hate me. She's....gonna hate me because I told."

"Nooo....no......Dylan she could never hate you! Sarah loves you. She just doesn't think things all the way through sometimes. It's easy to get so focused on what you want sometimes, that you forget your hurting other people in the process. And, Sarah knows what the punishment is in this house for lying. She wouldn't have expected you to lie to us."

"What's the punishment for lying?"

Abby didn't know what to say. She didn't want to scare him but they WERE talking about the truth. "If you deliberately tell a lie you'll get a spanking." There she'd said it. There was no point lying to him. She knew Tim and if Dylan told a lie he WOULD get a spanking and there'd be no way that Abby could talk him out of it so he may as well know the truth. She watched his face for signs of terror. There weren't any.

"Is Sarah gonna get a spanking?"

"Yep, she is. What Sarah did was very naughty and very dangerous. It's our job to remind her to make better decisions. Do you understand?"

"Yeh." He said sadly.

"Are you sure she's not gonna hate me? Think it's my fault?"

"Positive." She said pulling him up and into a hug. "Now let's get you up to bed, you've had enough excitement for one day and it's way past your bedtime."

"I don't wanna go to bed until Sarah comes back."

"Sorry little man. You don't need to worry about Sarah. Your Dad and Uncle Tony will find her. She's probably just gone to the movies or something."

In the other room, Tim rang Tony. "Hey Tony.....bit of a problem. Sarah's run off again............Did she?............Did she say where?.............Yeh well maybe that's for the best then. Thanks for that...................Yeh I will......................If she's not back here by one.............yeh I'll call you and we'll go and look. Thanks Tony."

Abby and Dylan were just on their way upstairs when they bumped into Tim in the hallway. "Hey Buddy, why don't you go and put on your pyjamas and Mom and I'll be up in a minute to tuck you in."

"O.K." he said and ran up the stairs.

"I just spoke to Tony and he thinks we should just wait 'til she comes home. He said that Sarah said something to him today about going out tonight." Tim said

"What did she say?" Abby said

"Not sure exactly what she said." Tim said.

"Timothy McGee, YOUR LYING!" She said with a hint of amusement. "I thought the penalty for lying around here was a spanking! You better watch out."

"I'm not lying!And that's not happening EVER!" he said.

"What? Because you're 'the man'!?"

"No, because I don't tell lies!"

"Doesn't matter Timmy! If you won't take a spanking from me if you tell a lie , I'll just tell Gibbs! I'm still his favourite you know!" Abby said jokingly.

"We're getting way off track we were talking about Sarah."

"What did Tony say about her wanting to go out?"

"She told him to stop upsetting you because she wanted to go out. That you were the easy one and if he put you in a bad mood she'd never get to go out."

Tim debated whether to tell her the rest. He decided it could wait until tomorrow. He knew she'd be upset and he wanted to salvage what was left of today. "Come on let's go and tuck Dylan in. He'll be waiting."

When they got into Dylan's room he was already nearly asleep. They sat on either side of the bed. "So have you had a good day?" Tim asked brushing his hair away from his face gently.

"I sure have. Can we do it again next weekend?" Dylan said smiling.

"We'll have to see. If Tony and Ziva and everyone aren't busy, they're always welcome."

"What are we gonna do tomorrow?"

"Well, we'll go to Mass in the morning and then after I think Dad promised us a trip to McDonalds. Didn't he?" she said grinning at Tim.  
"I sure did but first you better get to sleep." Tim said kissing his son on the forehead and tucking in the comforter on his side of the bed.

Abby was doing hers at the same time. "Night sweetie."she said.

Just as they were about to walk out Dylan called Tim. "Could I ask you a question?"

"Sure thing." Tim said waiting.

"Mom said that if I'd told a lie you woulda spanked me. Would you?"

"Yeh pal I would've. Lying's wrong. If you lie you get a spanking."

"Would it hurt?"

"It's supposed to hurt a bit. That's the bit that's supposed to help you remember not to do the same thing again."

"Does it help Sarah to remember not to the same thing again?"

Tim tried not to laugh. "Most of the time." He said.

"O.K. 'night Dylan said in a sleepy voice and turned over. Tim kissed the top of his head and pulled the comforter up to his neck. Turning off the light he closed the door softly.

Abby was waiting outside the door with a big grin. "So Timmy seems like you do tell lies 'most of the time' yeh right. Some of the time at best. The kid has a death wish."

Tim chuckled. "Your right. She does. Come on, fancy a bit of murder in the dark. I'll pick the lock to her room. I thought we'd wait in there and give her a nice surprise when she climbs back in the window."

"Oooh a stake out! Very devious Timmy, I like the way you think. You pick the lock and I'll go and get us some supplies."

"Supplies Abs?"

"Yeh, coffee and donuts. Isn't that what you people eat on stakeouts. I've watched cop shows. They always have donuts and coffee." She said running down the stairs.

Tim just shook his head and smiled.

A while later they were sitting on Sarah's floor in the dark eating frozen donuts and drinking coffee. "Did you ever think five years ago Timmy that this is what you'd be doing on a Saturday night?"

"The stakeout wouldn't have been unusual but I didn't think that I'd be lucky enough to be doing it with you."

Meanwhile at the movies, Sarah was getting nervous. She was wondering if she'd done the right thing. Maybe she should have just asked, like Tony had suggested. The movie had gone longer than she'd expected and she was really hoping that Tim or Abby hadn't gone to her room to check on her.

"Hey, you o.k?" Zac said.

"Yeh..........fine......I just.........it's getting late." She said.

"What time did your folks say you had to be home?" Zac said suddenly. Sarah didn't answer. He had a bad feeling. "Why didn't you want me to come to the door?"

"Becaus............I..........I......."

"Oh No Sarah! You lied? They don't know about me do they? What did you tell them?"

"SHH, SHHH. SHHH." Came from several different areas of the movie theatre.

Zac took Sarah's hand and stood up. "Where getting out of here right now." He said not too pleased. When they were outside he pulled her around to face him and started again. "Where exactly do they think you are?"

Sarah put her head down, she liked Zac and he was never gonna want to take her out again after this. "Um........in bed." She said sheepishly.

"What?! Oh Sarah what have you done?" he said pulling her towards the car park.

"Where are we going?" she said panicking.

"Home! Right now, so we can hopefully clear this mess up before your folks never let me anywhere near you again."

"Maybe we won't have to tell them. They think I'm asleep. I could just sneak back in." she said hopefully.

"There'll be no sneaking in anywhere. I've got nothing to hide, I'm gonna knock on the door and explain what happened. What does your brother do anyway? "

"He's an NCIS special agent."

"Great! He carries a gun! It just gets better."

Abby and Tim were actually having fun. Tim looked at his watch. Only quarter to midnight. Most late movies wouldn't have even gotten out yet. Tim leant against the bed and stretched his legs out. Abby cuddled into his side and he put his arm around her.

Downstairs a nervous Zac and an irritable Sarah were waiting by the front door. Zac had knocked a couple of times but no answer.

"See?" Sarah said. "Tim and Abby have probably gone to bed. They most likely don't even know I'm gone. I could just sneak back inside and get into bed."

"No!" Zac said in exasperation. "Do you have your key?"

"Here!" she said grumpily.

Zac opened the door and they stepped inside. "I can hear voices upstairs. Come on." He said taking her hand and heading for the stairs. Pointing to the room the voices were coming from. Whose room is this?" Zac asked.

"Mine."

The door wasn't shut all the way but Zac knocked anyway.

Tim got up to open it, With Abby behind him thinking it must be Dylan. They were both shocked to find a very anxious looking Sarah holding hands with a teenage boy, neither of them had ever seen before. His hair was blonde and spiky and he wore an earing. He looked about eighteen.

"Where the hell have you been!" Tim said to Sarah. "And who might you be." He said addressing Zac.

"Mr and Mrs McGee, I'm Zac." Zac said addressing both of them. He turned to Tim. "Sir I know how this looks but if you'll give me a minute to explain."

Sarah hung her head and Tim was starting to think there might be more to this story. The kid had called him Sir so he must have some manners. "Speak." He said.

"I met Sarah last week at the mall. We've been talking on the phone and I like her and well I think she likes me. Anyway I asked her if she would like to go to the movies tonight and she said yes."

Zac rubbed his hand through his hair. He hated to get Sarah in more trouble than she was probably already in but he wanted to do this right. Not sneak around. "So I thought it was a bit strange that Sarah was INSISTANT"he said looking at Sarah "on me picking her up out on the street but I did it anyway because that's what she wanted. I'm sorry. But it wasn't until the movie was about two thirds of the way through that I found out that you thought that Sarah was in her bed. I'm not that type of person. I was brought up to be respectful. If you let me see Sarah again I promise I will always collect her at the door and I will always bring her home on time."

Tim and Abby looked at each other and then Sarah. "Why do you think we're in your room Sarah?" Abby said.

"You were waiting for me?"

"How do you suppose we got in here?" Tim said

"You had to pick the lock."

"Did you think that when you locked the door and CLIMBED OUT THE WINDOW that we might be worried about you?"

"You climbed out the window?" Zac asked shocked. "Oh man Sarah you're in some kind of trouble."

"She sure is!" Tim and Abby said together for the second time that night.

Abby looked at Tim and her eyes confirmed what he was thinking himself. This seemed like a decent kid. Tim put his hand out to shake the Zac's hand. "Zac it was nice to meet you. I wish it had been under better circumstances. How about you come over for lunch next weekend and we'll all get to know each other a bit better. Sarah won't be talking to anyone this week but you can phone her on Saturday night to make arrangements for Saturday. She'll see you then."

"Thankyou Sir I'd like that." he said shaking Tim's hand.

"Call me Tim. Oh and Zac? Thanks for being honest."

"Your welcome Sir.......I mean Tim.

Zac leaned over and gave Sarah a quick kiss on the cheek. "Behave yourself Sar!" he said smiling and darted off down the stairs.

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

Thankyou to everyone for their reviews and alerts. I really do appreciate them :)

Chapter 5.

Zac was gone and Tim and Abby stood staring at Sarah. Tim was the first to speak. "What do you have to say for your self.?"

"I'm sorry?" Sarah said sheepishly.

"I'm sure you are for lots of reasons. I'm just not sure that they're the right ones. Let's start with using a ten year old boy for a decoy, shall we?"

"GODDDD!!! You people have no sense of humour. That whole McDonalds thing was just a joke!" she said.

Abby's mouth fell open. "Do you mean to tell me that you stirred up that argument between Tim and me, using Dylan, as a JOKE! Sarah McGee you should be ashamed of yourself."

"You don't have to make it sound so bad!" Sarah said sullenly. "I was just trying to get him to lighten up a bit. I love Dylan but he's soooo good. He needs to relax. Chill."

"That is a load of CRAP!!! And you know it!" Abby said getting angry.

"Abs, honey calm down." Tim then turned to Sarah. "Sarah, that brings me to the next thing. Why did you set Dylan up to ask Abby about the whole movie thing? Why didn't you just ask if you could go to the movies?"

"Because you would've said no."

"How can you possibly know the answer to something before you ask the question?" Tim asked.

"Because of how things are now."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Abby said.

"Abby I know you don't mean it and I'm not a baby so I understand that you're excited and you want everything to be perfect but..............."Sarah looked like she was going to cry.

"Go on Hun."Abby urged "Say it. It's O.K"

"You go to a lot of trouble to include me with Dylan, but everything has become about him. Ever since you found out that you could have him. Everything Abby. WE used to go shopping. Now we only shop for things that Dylan might like. Things that Dylan needs to wear. Things that Dylan might like to play with. Things that Dylan likes to eat. He's your world now Abby and I get that but I miss you." Sarah broke into heart breaking sobs.

Abby felt like she'd been slapped. She was a monster. How could she have hurt Sarah like that and not even noticed that she was hurting. "Oh Honey come here!" she said now crying as well. "I'm so sorry, I had no idea. I guess I just got so wrapped up with the whole adoption and getting everything ready that I just didn't think. But I don't want you to think for one minute that you're not as important to me, to us, as Dylan. We love you both the same. I'll do better. I promise."

"It's alright Abs. I know that you didn't mean it and I'm sorry I tricked Dylan into covering for me."

Tim rolled his tear filled eyes. He couldn't believe that Sarah had been that upset and they hadn't she still acted the smartass. He didn't doubt that Dylan's presence had made her feel a little put out but I think that maybe there was a little manipulation going on here. But what was he supposed to do now. Abby was back in protection mode.......Bottom line, what Sarah had done was wrong on a lot of different levels. He had to punish her. "Abby, I need to see Sarah alone now please." He said firmly.

The look she gave him said 'Your not seriously gonna punish her now.'

"Sarah get ready for bed. I'll be back in a minute. I need to talk to Abby."

Taking Abby's hand he pulled her out of Sarah's room and down the hall to there's.

"How can you even think of punishing her now! She's so upset! She had a reason!" Tim put his hand up to stop her. "Abby she was upset. She still did the wrong thing. Did you see the look on Dylan's face? How guilty he felt? She did that to him Abby. The McDonalds thing. We had an argument, which you got a spanking for I might add. She told Tony that she wanted to go out. Zac picked her up so that was planned. She used Dylan and left HIM with the guilt. Not to mention that she climbed out the damn window. How dangerous is that? She's manipulating again Abby. We need to nip it in the bud before it escalates again."

Abby was listening intently but didn't look completely convinced.

"Abby I'm not saying that she doesn't need to spend some one on one time with you doing girly stuff. She probably does need that. But Abby what she needs tonight is a damn good spanking and that is exactly what she's gonna get."

Abby nodded. "But Tim?"

"Yeh Abs?"

"Please don't use the belt."

"O.K"

Tim knocked on Sarah's door and entered at her quiet "Come in."

"Hey." Tim said.

"Hey. .......Tim I really have learned my lesson." She said.

"I hope so Sarah but I'm still gonna spank you. I just wanna tell you that I'm sorry if you felt neglected. I really am. We'll do better with that. But that's still not a good enough reason to do all the wrong things you did today. We've been over the whole sneaking out thing so many times before and Dylan wasn't even here then, so you can't blame him for that.

We are still your guardians, so you have to lump that. If you wanna go somewhere ask. If you think you might not be allowed to go, tough. That's a risk you'll have to take. We never say no without a reason. And for the record, so far, I like Zac and I wouldn't have said no outright.I would have suggested that he come and meet us talk to us let us get to know him, because it's dangerous Sarah to go out with someone you don't know. You may have got lucky this time, he seems like a really decent guy but he may not have been. You have to trust us to look out for you."

"Now this was thing that shocked me the most. You manipulating Dylan. Think about what you did to him Sarah. Today, that little boy's life completely changed. Now I'm pretty sure it was a change for the better so I guess he'd be feeling a bit nervous. So we go to pick him up and you, a person who he trusts , gets him to play a trick on his parents. He doesn't want to upset us. He doesn't want to disappoint you. He doesn't want to get into trouble on his first day. Then not content with that you do it again. You manipulated the child into covering for you. When we found you had snuck out and made him tell us what happened and then he realised you were in trouble he burst into tears because he thought it was his fault. HE THOUGHT THAT YOU WERE GOING TO HATE HIM. You SCARED him Sarah. A little boy. You scared a little boy so that you could do what you wanted." Sarah burst into tears again.

"I didn't mean to hurt him. I won't do it again."

"I know you won't. Tomorrow you're gonna go and tell him that you don't blame him and that he didn't do anything wrong. He needs to hear that from you.O.K?"

Sarah nodded.

You're really lucky tonight Sarah, because I would've used my belt. Abby has asked me not to so I won't but I'm not gonna go easy on you. If you repeat this manipulation again , I will use my belt and it will be on your bare bottom. Do you understand?"

Sarah nodded again. Tim pulled her over his knee and started spanking rhythmically with heavy handed smacks. Each hard spank making Sarah's eyes water more until she couldn't contain her tears. He may not have used his belt but her ass felt as if it was on fire. There wasn't a single spot that escaped layer after layer of his punishing blows. Finally he stopped and she threw herself against his chest.

"I'm so sorry that I hurt Dylan I..........did....n't......mean...it."she sobbed.

"I know you didn't mean to hurt him Sarah. You just need to think more before you act."

The next morning at breakfast they all sat around the table some more gingerly than others. Really Sarah was the only one having trouble sitting, Abby's spanking had faded already. As Tim and Abby cleared the dishes Sarah said to Dylan "Hey kid wanna come up to my room until it's time for church?" she said smiling.

"Can I?" he said happily.  
"Sure you can." She said. "I wanna talk to you anyway."

Dylan looked worried. Sarah felt bad she could see that he was scared. "It's all good little man you don't have to worry. I don't bite." She said trying to lighten the situation.

"O.k" Dylan said shrugging his shoulders and following her up the stairs.

When they were in Sarah's room Dylan looked around in awe. "WOW, your room is cool too. Did Mom and Dad get you all this stuff too?"

"A lot of it. But some of it I brought with me from when I used to live with my Mom and Dad."

"Oh."

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. Yesterday, I didn't do the right thing by you and I wanted to say I'm sorry."

"What do you mean?"

"Well I told you yesterday that you should be nice to Tim and Abby because they bought you nice things and that was wrong. They bought you nice things because they love you and they don't expect anything in return. You did get lucky but not because of the stuff. You got lucky because they're good hearted nice people who want to be good parents to you. Now the little joke about the McDonalds? Tim assures me wasn't so funny. So you better not do that stuff anymore. And Dylan" she said looking right into his eyes," I'm really sorry you got upset last night because of me. I did something bad and I shouldn't have involved you. You did the right thing telling the truth."

"Did Dad spank you?"

"Yep, he sure did."

"Did it hurt?"

"Kid he lit a fire on my ass!"

Dylan giggled. "Was it worth it? Where you went?"

Sarah pictured Zac's cute face. "Yeh kid I think it was."

"Would you do that again if you knew that Dad was gonna ......light a fire on your ASS?" he giggled again because he said ass.

Probably not that exact thing and probably not for a little while at least." She said smiling and ruffling his hair. "But listen, probably not a good idea for you to use those words in front of grown ups OK? Or you might have a fire on your own ASS." she said, loving that she had made him giggle again.

Just then Tim appeared in the doorway. "What's so funny in here? He said with a smile.

"Oh nothing. Dylan and I were just getting to the BOTTOM of a few things." She said shrugging her shoulders at her nephew who was laughing so hard that he fell off the bed.

Ok, well we'll be leaving for church in about ten minutes so get your butts into gear. This time Sarah joined Dylan who's renewed bout of laughing was contagious. Tim just shook his head and went downstairs smiling.

That probably wasn't good but he didn't really care what they were laughing at because for the first time since they moved into this beautiful house. It sounded like a home.

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

I would like to thank everyone for reading, especially those people who took the time to review and send alerts. Your efforts are much appreciated. :)

Chapter 6

Tim entered the kitchen and wrapped his arms around Abby nuzzling her neck.

"Did you find out what's going on up there." She asked turning in his arms and placing a soft kiss on his lips.

"Nah. But they were rolling around the floor laughing so all must be well. I hope anyway."

"Timmy?"

"Yeh Abs?"

"You know when you got off the phone last night from Tony?"

"The first time or the second time."

"The first time. Remember I asked you what he'd said?"

"Mmmm." Tim said he had a feeling he wasn't gonna like where this was going.

"Did you tell me all of it?"

"Well......I can't remember ...word for word Abby."

"Fine. I'll be specific. All that stuff that Sarah was upset about. The stuff about Dylan. You know, about me being wrapped up in Dylan. All of that stuff. Did Sarah talk to Tony about that?"

"Well Abs I can't say exactly word for word what she talked to Tony about...."

"Timmy!" she said trying to hide a smile. "We are about to go to Mass. Isn't not telling me something that I'm asking you, that you know the answer for, a lie of omission?"

"Well ...... I .....I ......didn't really ...Oh all right. He told me that Sarah had said that your whole world revolves around Dylan now and she wouldn't be allowed to go out if it didn't fit with your idea of a perfect evening for Dylan. Now can you see why I didn't tell you, I didn't want to hurt you?"

Abby didn't want to admit that it probably would have devastated her to hear that while Sarah was still AWOL. It wasn't so bad hearing it now that they had sorted everything but there was no way she was gonna tell Tim that though. She intended to have some fun with him first.

"Tim I'm shocked! You know we're supposed to tell each other everything. I'm definitely counting that as a lie. I think it's hight time you got a spanking."

"Come on Abs, you're seriously not gonna drag Gibbs into this are you."

"Who said I need Gibbs! I can take you!" she said swallowing a laugh.

"That is NOT gonna happen while I'm conscious Abby!"

"Don't give me ideas." she said cheekily poking out her tongue. He'll keep she thought."I'll get you when you least expect it."

After they'd been to mass, Tim pulled the car into the McDonald's parking lot. Sarah shrunk down in her seat. "You can't expect me to sit in there with my FAMILY! What if I see someone I know!"

Tim turned to her and gave her 'the look'. "Don't start! You aren't in any position to start trouble today. I would have thought your sore bottom would be enough to make you behave. Now we are going in there as a family and your coming." he said tossing her a cap. "Here, make like a superstar, maybe no one will recognise you."

Resigned to her fate, with a big sigh Sarah put on the cap and her sunglasses and got out of the car. Nothing though could have prepared her for the shock and devastation of what was about to happen. They entered the restaurant and found a booth. Sarah was fidgeting about on the hard chair trying to get comfortable.

"Sit still Hun, your just drawing attention to yourself." Abby said.

"I can't help it." she said

"I know it's hard but try." Abby said sympathetically.

"Can I go and play?" Dylan asked.

"After you've eaten honey." Abby said

"What does everyone want?" Tim asked

"To go through the drive through and eat at home." Sarah said sullenly.

"I meant what do you want to eat?" Tim said ignoring her smart ass comment.

"A nugget Happy Meal please, but can I go and play?"

"After your food bud."Tim said.

"I know you can't get Caf-pow here so I'll just have fries and whatever drink you can find that has caffeine in it, please."

"Sarah?" he said raising his eyebrows at her.

"Fine." she said "I'll have a cheeseburger and fries please and a shake."

"No Problem,"

"I'll be back in a minute." He said.

"Can I go and play?" Dylan asked hopefully.

"Dylan...... after you've eaten." Abby said.

It wasn't long before Tim was back with the food, and a surprise for Sarah. "Look who I found!" he said.

"Hi Sarah." Zac said shyly. "Would you mind if I sit here, I'm on my break?" He said.

"Zac works here, part time." Tim said mostly to Abby.

"Mrs McGee." he said nodding to Abby.

"Please. Call me Abby." she said "I still look over my shoulder for my mother in-law when people call me that. Not that I'm not proud to be Mrs McGee Timmy cause I am but Mrs McGee sounds kind of old. Not that I think that your parents are old, exactly......." she said

Tim put his hand on her knee to stop her with a smile. She returned the smile gratefully. Sometimes it was like her mouth had a life of its own.

"Hi Zac." Sarah said quietly while Abby and Tim were busy sorting out the food. "This is Dylan. My nephew."

Unfortunately Dylan wasn't busy doing anything except listening to their conversation.

"I'm sorry about last night." Sarah said sheepishly.

"That's O.K." he said smiling. "Did you get in much trouble?"

Before Sarah could answer for herself Dylan piped up "She sure did, Dad lit a fire on her ass!" Abby and Tim's mouths dropped open in shock. Zac tried desperately not to laugh and Sarah glared angrily at Dylan before hiding her face in her hands. No one though was a shocked as Dylan himself. He had tried so hard to be good and now he'd ruined it. He didn't know what happened, it just slipped out.

Abby tried to think fast. "Dylan that wasn't the right thing to say. Apologise to Sarah and then go and play. We'll talk about this later." She said looking at Tim who nodded. It wasn't ideal to send him to play, but they needed a bit of space to smooth things over.

Tim was glad that someone had come up with some kind of solution because he was at a loss. He could only imagine how embarrassed he would have been if something similar had happened to him at that age, in front of a girl he liked. Now that Dylan had gone to play though there was silence. Abby to the rescue again. "You know what Timmy, I think it would be better if we sat at that table over there, where we can see the play area."

"Yeh good idea." Tim said shooting up off the seat.

Zac looked at Abby gratefully and mouthed "Thanks."

When they had gone Zac tried to coax Sarah's hands away from her face. "Hey." He said "Are you gonna talk to me?"

Sarah shook her head no.

"So you got a spanking. You don't need to be embarrassed you know. We've all been there. God, if I'd done what you did I wouldn't like to even think about what'd happen. And if you're mad at Dylan, don't be, he's just a little kid. They do dumb stuff sometimes."

Sarah still didn't say anything.

"Come on Sarah, no one heard except your family and me. Your family knew already, so that just leaves me. You don't have to be embarrassed in front of me." he said taking one hand away from her eyes and holding it.

Sarah slowly took her other hand away from her eyes. "He's such a brat." She said under her breath.

"Looks like he's had a good teacher." He said with a grin. "Let's eat. I'm starving!" he said starting on his burger.

"I'm pretty hungry too now." she said nibbling on her cheese burger.

"Well eat your burger then Sar. Your not one of those girls that don't eat are you? 'Cause I love to eat."

At the other table Abby's face was beaming. "Looks like he finally got through to her." she said. "I don't blame her though. I would have died of embarrassment at that age. That was a bit naughty of Dylan. Although I don't suppose he really meant to cause trouble for Sarah."

"No probably......... not."Tim said between chewing his burger but he can't go around talking like that. What if he said that at school? We'll talk to him later." At her panicked look he added "Just talk Abby. Geez I'm not a monster. I'll just tell him that what happens in our house stays in our house and that he's not allowed to use words like that."

"That's fine and Timmy, I don't think you're a monster." She said grinning. "He's a bit of a cutie!"

"Who Dylan?"

"No Zac silly. Not that Dylan isn't cute because he is. Really cute but Dylan's kinda hot." She said waiting for a reaction from Tim.

"Hmmmff! I'm not really an authority on hot guys Abby, but I would have thought he was a bit young!"

"Keep your pants on McGee I was only joking. He is cute in a very teenage boy type of way. I can see why Sarah likes him but I like my men much more mature." She said with a smile. "Like you."

"Thanks Abs." He said.

Once they were back home Tim took Dylan up to his room for a talk. Dylan hung his head. He really didn't wanna be in trouble.

Sensing something was wrong Tim lifted his chin with his finger. "What's the matter Dyl." He said.

"I said a bad thing. I don't wanna be in trouble.I don't want you to be sorry I came."

"I .....We'll never be sorry that you came to live with us. Dylan, what you did wasn't right but you're not in trouble this time and even if you were we still would be happy that you came. We love you very much. You have to remember though that what happens in this house stays in this house. You don't go telling other people about our business. O.K?"

Dylan nodded.

"And no more bad words. Because if you say bad words again you will be in trouble O.K?"

Dylan nodded again. "So your not gonna spank me?"

"Not this time pal. Now how about a swim?"

"Alright!" he said getting out his stuff.

"I'll wait for you down stairs."

Tim got changed into his swim pants and by the time he was finished Dylan was already downstairs waiting for him. Coming into the kitchen he bent to kiss Abby. "You wanna come for a swim?" he said.  
"Na....you and Dylan go ahead. I had enough sun yesterday." she said. "I'm just gonna phone Ziva."

"Ok. Why don't you see if they wanna come over and have dinner, play cards or go for a late night swim or something?"

"That sounds like fun. I will."

After Tim had swum with Dylan for an hour or so he figured the little boy had had enough sun. "Why don't you go inside and get changed and you can play your games or watch a DVD in your room for a while out of the sun.

"Ok." Dylan said. "Are you coming?"

"No I'm real tired. I'm just gonna lay here in the sun for a while."

"Ok Dad." Dylan said, always happy to go and play his video games.

Tim laid his towel out on the edge of the pool and lay down on his tummy. It wasn't long before the warmth of the sun and the salt water from the pool had lulled him into a peaceful sleep.

Abby had hung up the phone from Ziva and was on her way out to tell Tim that Ziva and Tony were already on their way over, when Dylan was on his way back in. "Where's Dad?" she asked.

"He told me to play in my room for a while 'cause I've had enough sun." he said brightly. "He's gonna take a nap."

"Ok then." Abby said sending him off with a kiss and a pat on the bottom. She looked out the window at her Timmy sleeping in the sun. He's so cute she thought. Hang on........this could be the perfect opportunity. I told him it would be when he least expected it. That would be now. You can't expect anything when you're asleep. The problem though was that she would only be able to get in one whack before he went after her. So how do you fit a whole spanking into one whack. It would have to be a helluva whack. Her hand wouldn't be enough. Not the belt............I know the perfect thing.

She looked to check neither of the kids were downstairs and she snuck out to the garage and there on the wall was the perfect weapon. A canoe oar. It was lightweight and made of highly polished wood. Better still it had a long handle which meant she'd be able to escape quicker. She stood on a small ladder and unhooked the paddle carefully from the wall. She stood in the garage for a short while practicing her swing. This was gonna be easy, she thought.

Tony and Ziva knocked at the front door. After waiting a little while they decided that the family were probably in the pool so decided to let themselves in by the side gate. As they walked towards the yard they were stunned motionless by what they saw unfolding before their very eyes. They probably should have stopped her but it was kind of like they were watching in slow motion.

Tim was still in an oblivious slumber sprawled on his towel in the sun. Abby had crept through the pool fence and was wielding a highly polished canoe paddle. Knowing that time was of the essence, she quickly raised the paddle in the air and brought it down with a resounding splat on Tim's almost naked ass. There is hardly a word to describe the anguished scream that escaped Tim's mouth as the paddle met with his unconscious form. Had he seen it coming and had a chance to prepare himself for the pain it may not have hurt as much as it did. That terrible sound only lasted a few seconds though because it was drowned out by the water as he flew up in the air and landed in the pool. Abby was frozen to the spot in shock at the severity of pain that she had caused her poor Timmy. Not enough though to hang around and commiserate. As she saw him shooting up out of the water like a missile from a submarine she found her legs and ran................. straight into Tony who lifted her in the air to stop her from getting away. Even once she was in the air she didn't stop running. Tony could hardly hold her still for laughing. Not that he had to for long. Tim caught up and took her from Tony tossing her over his shoulder with a very hard smack to her backside.

"I'm sorry Timmy she said sobbing. I'm really sorry. I ......I did...nt mean to...hurt ...you that bad. It....was ....just...a...joke because you lied." Tim was so pissed he didn't even take her inside. He put his foot up on a patio chair and turned her over his knee right there in front of Tony and Ziva. Tony didn't even try to conceal his hilarity at the situation even though Ziva was shooting him a warning look. Tim peppered Abby's bottom with a dozen hard smacks and then let her up. "That's just a taste. You ever do that to me again and I'll buy a paddle and I will show you what polished wood feels like."

Abby nodded. "I really am sorry Timmy."

Realising that they had put on a show for Tony and Ziva, Tim rubbed his hand over his face in embarrassment. "I'm really sorry guys that you had to witness that." Tim said.

"Don't apologise! I love coming here to eat. It's like going to one of those restaurants where there's an interactive show. You never know what's gonna happen but it's always fun." He said with a genuine grin.

"What are we going to do about dinner?" Ziva said changing the subject.

"Chinese?" Abby suggested.

Just then they were joined by Sarah and Dylan who had come down to see what all the noise was. "Uncle Tony!" Dylan shouted running into his arms.

"Hey sport! Watcha been doing."

"Playing video games." He said

"Hi Aunt Ziva." He said.  
"Hi Dylan. Have you been having lots of fun today?" Ziva asked.

"Yeh, we went to church and then McDonalds and Sarah has a boyfriend and he ate lunch with us."

"Did he?" Ziva said looking from Abby to Sarah.

"Hey Sarah. You are well?"Ziva asked with a twinkle in her wasn't going to embarrass her more by asking questions. Abby had already filled her in anyway.

"Hi Ziva." Sarah said "I'm fine and you?"

"I am very well thankyou."

"I'll just go and get some drinks." Tim said forgetting about the state of his rear end. As he started to walk towards the house there was a collective intake of breath. Abby tried to get to him but it was too late.

"Wow what happened to your BUTT!?" Dylan asked.

"Turning to try and see what it looked like Tim started to stutter "um ah......I ........"

"Looks like someone lit a fire on HIS ass, hey Dylan?" Sarah said.

Dylan smirked. "We're not allowed to say ass in this house Sarah!" he said, secretly delighting in finding a loophole that allowed him to say it again.

"Everybody stop saying ass right now!" Tim said.

"He fell asleep in the sun and got a bit sunburnt." Abby said desperately trying to save the situation.

"That's funny because the red mark in question is the exact shape of a canoe paddle just like the one laying on the grass over there." Sarah said in her best smart ass tone.

This was too much for Tony who collapsed onto the ground laughing. He was soon joined by Ziva who couldn't hold back anymore.

When Abby looked like she was also gonna break out laughing Tim leaned in and whispered. "Was that a lie you just told Mrs McGee?"

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

Once again I'd like to than everyone for reading and reviewing. It really helps with the righting when you get some feedback. Also thank you for the alerts. This is not a long chapter but I thought it was a good place to leave it. :)

Chapter 7

The night was so nice that they ate their Chinese food outside on the patio. That was Abby's idea. It meant that those who didn't want to sit didn't have to. Tim had changed out of his brief swimming costume into board shorts and a Tshirt hoping the matter would be forgotten. He should've known better. This kind of ammunition didn't come along everyday and Sarah and Tony were having a field day. Still it was all good natured fun and Tim didn't take them seriously. Tony and Ziva were like family anyway and there really weren't any secrets between them.

While Tim and Tony were playing a game of basketball with the kids, Abby and Ziva were laying by the pool. Well Ziva was sitting on the edge dangling her feet and Abby was laying on her tummy. Abby loved it out there at night. She really didn't like being in the sun. She was in heaven relaxing with her friend and sipping the caf-pow that Ziva had brought her.

"So Abby, was it worth it?" Ziva said with a twinkle in her eye. "Whatever were you thinking?"

"As usual not a lot. Although that's not really might seem like I don't think things through but I think I just think of too many things at once and then I don't anticipate the ending." At Ziva's confused look she continued "You mean the spanking he gave me? That was nothing! That was just a few smacks and that was only because he lost his temper. I'm actually surprised he didn't give me more than that. It was a horrible thing to do. I thought it would be funny, but I actually felt really bad when he shot up in pain and fell in the pool. For a split second." She said a smile creeping on to her face.

"You do not look very sorry." Ziva said smirking.

"Well Ziva, I do feel really bad but I'm conflicted, because that was also the funniest thing I've ever seen in my life!" she said bursting out laughing. "I .....just .....wish........"she said trying to get herself under control that I could have captured it on my cell phone or something. I would have loved to send it to Carol. She would get such a kick out of this. I mean of course I'll tell her anyway but it always loses something in the translation. It's true what they say 'you had to be there!'......"Abby said her bout of laughter renewed at her own joke.

"Well Abby, I may have the perfect surprise for you." Ziva said grinning widely. She got up and went to fetch something from her bag. Returning with said item and sitting where the boys couldn't see, Ziva produced her cell phone.

Abby sat up in her excitement forgetting all about her sore bottom which she realised wasn't that sore after all. "YES!!!!!" she yelled clapping hands and bouncing up and down. "You got it on your cell?!!!" she said excitedly.

"What are you two so happy about?" Tony asked suspiciously. He didn't know that Ziva had captured the events as Ziva had been behind him the whole time.

"Nothing my sweet." Ziva said with a smile. "Do you want me to send it to Carol?" she said quietly to Abby.

"Yes,yes,yes,no." Abby said. "You know what, for the full effect the screen should be bigger. Lets go and upload it onto the computer and then we can send it to her via email."

"What about You tube?" Ziva said deviously.

"Naaa. Better not. That's a bit cruel. We'll just send it to Carol. She'll get a laugh but she won't show anyone else."

The girls jumped up and headed inside. "Where are you two off to so fast?" Tim asked.

"I'm gonna put some coffee on Timmy. Want some?" Abby asked

"No thanks Abs." He said. "maybe a bit later."

When they got inside, Abby started to fill the pot. "I thought he said he did not want any coffee Abby?"

"I know. I'm making sure I'm not telling a lie Ziva!"

Ziva rolled her eyes. "Quickly Abby we may not have much time."

They went to the office upstairs and Abby went about downloading the footage from Ziva's phone onto the computer. Ziva was being lookout at the door as Abby punched keys at breakneck speed as she usually did. She typed a short email to Carol explaining what the footage was and then hit send at the same time that Ziva hissed "Someone's coming!"

It was Tim calling from the bottom of the stairs. "We will have that coffee if that's alright?"

"No problem Tim we will bring it out in a minute." Ziva said breathing out heavily as he walked away.

Carol happened to be home that evening when she received a text message from Abby telling her to check her emails. She opened up her email page and scanned down quickly for one from Abby's email address. Opening the email and pressing keys she sat back and laughed until she cried at the images on her screen. She picked up her cell phone and sent a quick message back to Abby.

By this stage Ziva and Abby had gone back outside with a tray that held coffee cups. Plates, cream sugar etc Ziva carried a cake and the coffee pot. As they were setting up the dessert on the patio table, Abby's cell phone dinged signalling a message. She pulled it out of her pocket and smiled at Ziva when she saw Carol's name. The message said "hilarious. want more!" Abby sent back another message that said "NO WAY!!! I would like to sit sometime in the next century!" She put the cell back in her pocket not expecting anymore messages.

It dinged again. Ziva laughed and Abby slapped her on the arm, but dug in her pocket for her cell again. But something was very wrong, her phone just kept dinging, signalling message after message. Abby switched it off and ran inside with it in trying not to show her panic. Seeing that something was really wrong, Ziva started pouring cups of coffee and cutting pieces of cake doing the best she could to create some kind of diversion while Abby sorted out what ever was wrong.

When Abby reached the living room she turned her cell back on to find at least twelve messages. "Oh something's really hinky!" she muttered to her self. Opening the first message which was from Jimmy it read 'i'm not carol but this is very funny abby.' Taking a breath and opening the next from Ducky that read 'OH Dear Abigail!' she wished she could read the next one with her eyes closed. It was from Gibbs. Finally getting up the courage to open it, she read the message. 'that's nothin compared to the spanking your gonna get when he sees what you've done this time.'

Abby sent a message to Ziva. It was safer than trying to talk outside without the others hearing. 'SOS CODE RED!!!!Come inside!' Ziva's cell dinged twice one after the other. The first one was from Gibbs. Ziva wondered if they had a case. Opening the message she furrowed her brows in confusion. The message just read 'you too'. What could that mean? Opening the next message from Abby, she was starting to understand. Picking up the cream jug she made an excuse about refilling it and went in search of Abby.

She found her pacing up and down the living room ringing her hands. "Abby what is wrong!? What has happened!? What did you do?"

"Um ......well it's actually what did WE do......."Abby said sheepishly." You have to understand Ziva that I was trying to be quick and I thought it was soooo great that you took the footage on your cell, so I didn't wanna take all the credit so when I sent the email to Carol? I kind of typed a little email telling her you know what it was about and everything and well when I signed it .........I kind of put from Abby and Ziva. It should have been totally fine ..........well it would have been totally fine except....."

Ziva cut her off "It is not totally fine is it Abby?"

"Well not exactly totally fine."

"How not totally fine is it not Abby?" Ziva asked advancing on Abby.

"Well it's really sorta funny in a hinky kind of way. You see I may have accidentally sent the email to a few more people in my contact list than I meant to." She said squinting and cowering away from Ziva.

"How many people Abby?"

"All of them!" Abby said sighing.

"So this is why I received a text message from Gibbs saying 'you too'. "Show me your message from Gibbs Abby." Abby found the message on her phone and passed it over. After Ziva read it she said "Do you think he will tell them?"

Just then Tim and Tony came in from outside and started for the stairs.

"Where are you two going?" Abby asked in as normal a voice as she could.

"We both just got a message from Gibbs to check out an urgent email." Tony said as he followed Tim up the stairs.

Abby and Ziva looked at each other..."We will take my car and I am driving!" Ziva said running out to the patio for her bag and keys. Abby already had the door open and was on her way to the car.

Tim came thundering down the stairs calling "ABBY! ABBY! ABIGAIL................" Tony wasn't more than a few steps behind as he went from room to room on his futile search for his wayward wife. Needing to get a little bit of air away from Tim before his laughter escaped again, Tony went out the front. He came straight back inside his humour gone.

"Ah....Tim?"

"Yes Tony!?" he said irritably.

"They're gone. They've taken my car." Tony said sadly, imagining Ziva in the drivers seat acting out Thelma and Louise in his car with Abby.

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

Thankyou for all the lovely reviews and alerts. It makes it much easier to write when you have some feedback. :)

Chapter 8

"Where are we actually going?" Abby said.  
"I do not have any idea Abby." Ziva answered.

"We could go to NCIS. Lay low for a couple of hours?" Abby suggested.

"They would look there first."

"What about your apartment?"

"They would look there next."

"Well do you have any ideas at all Ziva?"

"I have a suggestion! What about Carol's apartment?"

"Perfect!" Abby squealed. "Tim would never think to look there."

Back at the house Tim was pacing up and down ranting. Most of it wasn't even making sense although Tony did catch a couple of things that he felt sure had something to do with making Abby really sorry.

"This isn't helping McGee. We need to go and look for them." Tony said trying to calm Tim. Looking up, he saw Dylan standing in the doorway. Tony nudged Tim to get his attention.

"What's wrong?" he said looking at Tim with a worried expression. "Where's Mom?"

Tim softened his face immediately. "Sorry pal I was just thinking. Mom and Ziva just went out for a bit and they've been a bit long. I was just wondering where they were."

"Didn't they tell you where they were going?" Dylan asked starting to get concerned.

"They were in a rush."  
"Oh. When will they be back?"

"Your Mom will be back by the time you wake up in the morning. Now you better go and pop into bed and I'll get Sarah to come and read you a story Ok?"

"OK." He said going up stairs with Tim after him.

By the time Tim had come back down there was a knock at the door. Tony opened it to find Gibbs standing there trying to hide his grin. "Thought your two pesky wives might have run off and you might need some help." he said.

"Abby's right you ARE psychic." Tony said. "We sure could use some of those psychic abilities now Boss. Don't really know where to start looking."

"I'm not psychic Dinozzo but they shouldn't be too hard to find. Abby wouldn't leave the kids for long."

"She shouldn't have left them at all." Tim said.

"Well we have to find them first and then you can deal with all that. Let's go upstairs to your office Tim and look at what they were doing on the computer that set this off."

"Well I know the footage on the email was from a cell phone. It must have been Ziva's because Abby was obviously other wise engaged."

"Looks like she's sent the email out to all her contacts. Yeh hilarious I know Dinozzo!" he said in response to Tony's giggling. "I doubt that she did that on purpose.........".he said punching in keys and scrolling down the list of Abby's contacts. "Carol! That's who she would've been sending it to. She would only send something that personal to two people and one of them has run off with her."

"In my car!" Tony said sobering.

"Well then that's the first place I'd look. Carol's."

"Of course! Thanks Boss. But........."

"Don't worry about the kids. I'll stay here 'til you come back. I want to see that they're ok anyway."

Abby and Ziva knocked on Carol's door. They didn't have to wait long before she swung the door open and handed them each a Redbull and Vodka. "I wondered how long it would take you two brats to show up." She said with a smile.

"How did you know?" Ziva said.

"I know Abby." She said." She never gets in a little bit of trouble without following it up with a giant bit of trouble. And, I saw how many people she sent the email to."She turned to Abby. "Tim very pissed?"

"Probably. Didn't hang around to find out! I feel terrible for leaving Dylan though. Maybe I'll risk a quick text message."

"Do you think that is wise Abby?"Ziva said.

"I'll be quick. I just wanna know that Dyl's ok."

Abby punched buttons to ask Tim if Dylan was ok. She thought about texting Sarah but that wouldn't be fair to get her involved. She waited for an answer. She didn't have to wait for very long.

Dyl's fine he's asleep .where the hell are you? She turned it off again. "OK! Dyl's fine and Tim's obviously still pissed so I'm going to chill here and have have another drink. Dylan's asleep so I have until morning before I have to go home. Hopefully Tim will be over it by then. Ziva if you wanna go home that's fine. You didn't really do anything except take the pictures."  
"You had better add taking Tony's precious car to that list.. I do not know why he so much hates me to drive."

"Yeh Ziva, me either." She said giggling. "Oh well, we may as well have some fun."

"Carol poured more drinks and the girls settled into the couch to have a good old gossip session."

"So tell me" Carol said "whatever made you decide that it'd be a good idea to smack Tim with a canoe paddle?" Carol asked.  
"It seemed like a good idea at the time?" Abby said not even convincing herself.

"Well I thought it was hilarious but it didn't look like Tim saw the funny side." Carol said.

"He was more in pain I think than really mad." Ziva said. "But Abby when he finds out that everyone saw it; I would not want to be in your boots."

"Shoes." Abby and Carol said together.

"Don't forget who actually recorded it for prosperity Ziva. I wouldn't wanna be in your shoes either." Abby pointed out helpfully. "Tony will not care about that, except that I didn't show it to him first. He will care more that I took the car."

Abby was just contemplating her next drink when there was a loud knock on the door. The girls all looked at each other. "Shit!!!!" They all said at once.

"I don't suppose you're expecting anyone else?" Abby whispered.

"No! But you can't be that surprised!" Carol hissed quietly. "What are you gonna do now?"

"Um.............hide?" Abby said hopefully.

"I am not afraid Abby." Ziva said. "I am going to open the door and discuss this like an adult."

Abby narrowed her eyes. "NO YOUR NOT!" she said "IT was your idea to run off in the first place, if you give yourself up, your giving me up as well. Now come and get in the closet or the shower or something. If Carol tells them we're not here what can they do? They can't enter without a warrant can they?"

Just then the knock on the door got even louder. "Open up please Carol, we know they're in there."

"They're bluffing!" Abby said just above a whisper.

"Zi-va," Tony said "as a federal agent wouldn't you know not to park the car on the street outside the building."

"Shit!" Abby said again. Carol was laughing with her hand over her mouth. This was the funniest Sunday night she'd had for a long while. But Abby always did know how to liven things up.

"I think that they have us there." Ziva said. "I think we should give ourselves over."

"Give ourselves up." Abby said. "But not yet! I can think of something, I know I can."

Then came the pissed off voice that made her change her mind. "Abigail McGee you better open that god dam door or else!" "Abby, I mean it! I won't be responsible!"

"Ziva? Ziva if your in there open the door! Ziva ! I know you're in there................ YOU PARKED THE CAR ON THE STREET!"

"Abby enough's enough." Carol said squeezing her hand. Abby nodded. Carol opened the door.

Tim pulled Abby into a hug and then pushed her away from him gently so that he could see her face. "Don't you EVER run from me again. I was really worried. You didn't even say goodbye to Dylan or Sarah." Tim knew that was a low blow but it had to be said. "You don't just walk out when you have kids. I knew you wouldn't stay away Abby but it was still the wrong thing to do."

"How mad are you?" Abby said.

"What you did was...........it was embarrassing and..........Jimmy Palmer, Ducky, GIBBS! God knows who else saw that video. Did you really expect me not to be angry?"

"Well DUH!!!! Why do you think we ran away? Well not exactly ran away, we were more just chilling a little to give you time to calm down." Ziva and Carol both winced at the whack to her backside that everyone except Abby could see coming at her reckless words.

"McGEE!!!! I was just answering your question!" she said rubbing her bottom.

"No you weren't. You were being a smart ass!" Tim said. "And for the record Abby while you were just 'JUST CHILLING', I was home explaining to OUR SON where you had disappeared to. Not to mention that Gibbs had to come over and babysit while we drove around in circles looking for the two of you.

"And my CAR!" Tony said.

"Shut up about the car Tony! Is that all you care about?" Ziva said sharply.

"No, as a matter of fact it isn't. I was worried about you too. BUT that Zi-va, goes both ways. How worried about me worrying about you were you?" he said like it made perfect sense. The three girls took a minute to figure that one out. It definitely would have been easier a few drinks ago.

"Time we went home Abby. We have work tomorrow and so does Gibbs. We need to get home so that he can go home."

Abby gave Carol a kiss and a hug. "I'm soooo sorry that I involved you in all this. I shouldn't have."

"Yes you should!"Carol said. That's what friends are for. And then she winked at Tim "Giving other friends a good laugh."

As they all moved towards the door Abby tried to get Tim to go first. "Abby!" He said. "Ladies first."And his hand met her ass with a sharp smack as she passed. The shocker though was when he also gave Ziva a sharp smack to match.

Narrowing her eyes she first gave Tim a filthy look and then turned the same look on Tony. "Don't look at me like that my naughty ninja, you stole my car! No sympathy here. And Zi-va? That's not all you're gonna get! Wait until we get home."

When Abby and Tim got home Gibbs was already waiting for them on the front porch. Tim had rung him to tell him they were on there way home. He gave Abby a hug and a smack on the bottom and walked to his car shaking his head without another word. As soon as they were in the door Tim sent Abby up to the bedroom to stand in the corner. She didn't even bother to argue.

Back at the Dinozzo residence Tony pulled Ziva over his knee and started spanking. "I told you before that you were not to get roped into Abby's schemes............smack, smack, smack. You wouldn't have even been in trouble if you hadn't taken my car..............."smack, smack, smack. Then he let her up. He really wasn't that upset at her part. Anyway he didn't want to upset her too much. He had plans! "Ziva?"

"Yes Tony?" I'd like to use a still of Abby smacking McGee with that paddle as my wallpaper on my computer at that possible?"

Ziva just smiled. "Of course Tony!" Perfect! She had been trying to come up with some way to get revenge on McGee for swatting her.

While Abby was standing in the corner Tim was getting changed for bed. Abby couldn't help but sneak a look to see what colour his ass was now. She winced when she saw that the angry red mark had hardly dulled at all. It probably hadn't improved his mood either to make him sit on his sore ass while he drove around looking for her. When he had changed he came over to fetch her from the corner.

"Tell me one thing Abby. Did you mean to send it to everyone?"

Abby was genuinely horrified. "Of course not Timmy! That was a total accident! I just wanted to send it to Carol because it was funny."

"You thought it was funny that I was in so much pain that I fell in the pool!"

"Well.......I........Yes Tim I did! I thought it was funny so shoot me! I also sent the bit with you spanking me didn't I? So you're not the only one who's ass is all over the internet."

"That makes it so much better that pictures of me spanking my wife's ass are also on the net! What ever was I thinking? I was missing the bright side. AGAIN!!!"

"See Timmy I told you it wasn't that bad!"

"Abby I was being sarcastic it is that bad! It's terrible!" with that he pulled her over his knee and brought his hand down with a very hard smack. "You will not ....smack, smack, smack,.....ever share our personal life....smack, smack, smack, on line in that fashion .........smack, smack, smack......again. You will never run away again........." smack, smack, smack, smack. Then he stood her up. "Do you really understand Abby what you did wrong? Ziva shouldn't have taken those pictures but if you were as loyal to me as you should have been, you would have asked her to delete them."

"I'm sorry Timmy." She said sadly. "Will you ever forgive me?"

"I already have." He said kissing her softly.

"Timmy?"Abby asked.

"Yeh Abs?"

"What does polished wood feel like?"

"Not good."

"How bad does it hurt?"

"It really hurts........a lot."

"Timmy?"

"Yeh Abs?"

"On a scale of one to ten."

"Abby?"

"Yeh Timmy?"  
"If you don't quit asking me questions about the damn canoe paddle you're gonna be able to write a whole essay about it with first hand experience. Clear?"

"Shutting up now Tim."

TBC


	9. Chapter 9

Thankyou again to everyone who reviewed and sent alerts. As always I do appreciate your efforts. To Sara, I would have sent you a private message but your review was annomymous so I have to explain what I'm thinking here. You're quite right about including Dylan more in all the trouble. I always intended to and still do, but I'm easing him in. I didn't think that an adopted child would necessarily come straight in and start playing up. I thought that he would have to feel safe and comfortable first. If I'm wrong feel free to let me know what you think. Constructive criticism is always welcome. For the anonymous flamer that I deleted this morning, flame away if you must but I will just delete you again :)

Chapter 9

The next day started a new phase of the McGee's lives. The first day back to work since Dylan joined their family. Sarah and Dylan were both going to NCIS with Tim and Abby as school was yet to go back. They had enrolled Dylan into the vacation day care and Sarah would help out a little in the office although she could go to the mall or wherever as long as she stayed out of trouble and Tim and Abby knew where she was. She should have really been allowed to stay at home but after testing Tim and Abby's trust so much they thought it better that she didn't have so much freedom until she earned that trust back.

Up until now Dylan had not misbehaved at all. His behaviour actually had been too good, but you know what they say about the calm before the storm.

On the trip to work Abby and Tim had noticed a change in Dylan. He didn't seem at all eager to go to the day care and in fact was showing a little bit of attitude. Abby, as was her way was trying to help him see the bright side. "You know Dylan, it's gonna be great! You're gonna be able to meet kids your own age. You'll have lots of 's all kinds of activities and art. I hear that some days they even take the kids out on field trips to the movies and other cool places."

"Don't wanna go." He said sullenly.

"Don't be like that honey." Abby said looking worriedly at Tim.

Tim thought he would try. "Look Dylan, you don't know if you like something until you give it a try. Some of these kids will be going to the same school you will. It'll give you a chance to make friends."

"I wanna just come with you." Dylan said folding his arms and staring out the window.

"Dyl, I would love to keep you with me all day but it would be really boring." Abby said.

"No! I'm not going! If you make me go I'll run away!"

"Ah........Dylan...........trust me.......that doesn't go over so well." Sarah said smiling, trying to cheer him up. "I'll tell you what. How about I come down to day-care with you and wait until you find someone to make friends with before I leave?"

"Why can't I just stay with Dad!?" he said tears now forming.

Abby was folding. She looked at Tim pleading. He held up one finger so that only Abby could see. She nodded. "Ok Dylan one day." Tim said. "You can stay with us for one day only but tomorrow you go to day-care. Got it?"

"Yes!!!" he said all traces of his tears now gone. Sarah rolled her eyes. This kid's got them wrapped around his little finger.

When they got to the bullpen Tim went to have a quick word to Gibbs. After confirming that it was alright for Dylan to stay he set him up at a spare desk with some paper to draw on and some markers. "If we get a case Dyl your gonna have to go down to the lab with your Mom. Ok?"

"Ok Dad." he said.

"What's with Dylan being here? I thought you said he was going to the day care?" Tony said.

"He was, but he was really upset in the car. He didn't wanna go so we thought one more day with us wouldn't hurt. He promised he'll go to day care tomorrow."

"Yeh right! If he feels like it. You're turning soft McGee."  
"I'm just trying to be understanding Tony. I've told him he has to go tomorrow and he will." Tim said sternly.

"We'll see!" Tony said grinning.

Some of the morning went by quite peacefully without any dramas. Then Dylan started to get bored. He went from desk to desk touching things and asking questions. Then the whining started. "Dad I'm bored. Can't you play something with me?"

"Sorry Dylan. Mom and I told you it'd be boring. Day care would have been much more interesting." Tim said.

"Can't I go outside and kick the ball or somethin?"

"No."

"Can I play a game on the computer?"

"Don't touch the computers Dylan. There's important stuff on there."

"What kind of stuff?"

"I'm going for a coffee." Gibbs said gruffly, storming out of the bullpen.

"Ah.........Dylan, I think that you can maybe go and see Mom for a while." He said. "Sarah?"

"Yeh Tim?"

"Would you mind taking Dylan down to the lab?"

"Sure thing." She said gratefully. She didn't think that she could listen to his whining for another minute. Taking his hand she pulled him over to the elevator. "What's with you today?" she asked.

Dylan shrugged his shoulders. "Don't like it here. I wanna go home and play my games and swim ."

"Well tough! Your Mom and Dad have to work. They can't just stay at home and play all the time."  
"They did before."

"That's because they had special time off before to help you get settled in. Now they have to work. And you have to stop being such a baby!"

Dylan poked his tongue out and folded his arms.

As soon as the elevator reached Abby's floor they got out and Sarah pulled Dylan along to move him faster. Abby was welcome to him today. Little brat!

"Hey kiddies!" Abby said as they entered the lab. "Dad says you're coming to visit me for a while." She said hugging Dylan tightly. Signalling for Sarah to stay where she was for a minute Abby took Dylan through to her office. She pulled out her personal laptop and Dylan grinned.

"Yes!!!" he said a game.

"Only for an hour." Abby said setting up a Tetris game.

"TETRIS? Tetris is lame!" Dylan said folding his arms into what was turning out to be his move of the day.

"Hey! No it's not! It's fun Dylan and anyway it's the best I can do at the moment."

"Haven't you got anything with guns and shooting?"

"NOoo, I don't!!! Abby said, more than a little bit concerned with this new attitude. "Just play this one."

"What're all the machines out there?" Dylan asked.

They're important scientific machines that I use to help solve crimes. They're very expensive and you mustn't touch them. OK?"

"I guess." He said.

Abby went back out to the lab. She pulled Sarah over near the elevator so she could talk to her without being seen. "What's with Dylan? Something happen upstairs?"

"He just wouldn't stop whining and touching everyone's stuff. He was constantly asking questions and saying how bored he was. Gibbs was about to blow a gasket!"

"UH oh!." She said grimacing. "I better keep him down here for a while. I'm sure it won't be too hard to keep him amused."

Sarah laughed evilly. "Yeh well good luck with that Abs. I'll see you later." She said walking quickly to the elevator and punching the button.

When Abby went back in the lab expecting to find Dylan playing Tetris, she actually found him playing with her microscope. "HEY! Dylan, I told you not to touch anything!" she said shocked. "Go back in there and play the Tetris game I set up for you." Abby said using her best cranky Mom voice with her hands on her hips for effect.

Dylan went but he couldn't help but grumble "Stupid boring Tetris game it's HOT and I wanna go for a swim."

"Keep up the attitude little man and you won't be allowed to swim at all." Abby said staring at him. Who WAS this kid? Where was the sweet little boy they brought home a few days ago? She thought. Closing the glass door on Dylan so that she could still see him but he couldn't hear her she went and picked up the phone.

"Hey Duckman." She said.

"Abigail what a pleasant surprise. I hear you have a young visitor with you today."

"Yeh Ducky, that's kind of why I'm calling."

"A problem m'dear?"

"Well Ducky I'm not really sure. Since we picked up Dylan he's been a perfect angel but all of sudden today, he's turned into ............well............he's kind of turned into a little brat! He refused to go to day care this morning so we said he could stay with us for one more day and that he has to go to day care tomorrow. He seemed happy with that but he's been kind of .........well ..I guess naughty. He's whining and touching everything. His attitude seems to be getting worse I don't know what to do Ducky."

"Don't panic Abigail. What you are experiencing with Dylan is perfectly normal. He was wary at first so he showed you his good side . His best side. Probably scared that you wouldn't want him if he was less than perfect. Now that he feels more comfortable, he's testing his limits so to speak. It'll probably get a lot worse before it gets better, I'm afraid."

"So what do we do to fix it?"

"You need to help him find a balance. Love him Abigail. Show him what he can and can't get away with but also show him that you love him unconditionally at the same time. I suspect that the boy who you've seen up until now is not the real Dylan at all. He's probably not VERY naughty either. You'll get to the real Dylan eventually. You're just going to have to be very disciplined with him and very patient.

"Thanks Duck! she said.

When Abby got off the phone she went to see how Dylan was doing. "Hey baby!" she said ruffling his hair. "See? It's not that bad is it?"

"S'ppose. Pretty boring."

"Never mind. Dad and I told you it would be boring. You'll have much more fun tomorrow when you go to day care."

"Don't wanna go to day care. Day care's for babies."

"It's not that kind of day care. Anyway, you don't have a choice. Tomorrow you're going to day care and your gonna have fun!" she said brightly.

"I don't wanna go to day care and I don't wanna play Tetris!" he said slamming the lid of the laptop down.

"Ok Dylan, that's enough." Abby said.

"Ok Dylan that's enough." He mimicked.

"Stop it Dylan."

"Stop it Dylan." He mimicked again.

"I mean it now, stop!" Abby said narrowing her eyes.

Narrowing his eyes to match hers Dylan mimicked "I mean it now, stop!"

"That's it!" Abby said "You're in time out!" She pulled the computer chair into the middle of the room and sat him in it. "Stay!" she said "Ten minutes."

She attempted to go back to her work but was distracted by Dylan's chanting "You're in time out. Stay."..... "You're in time out. Stay." over and over while he was spinning the chair in circles. "Dylan I'm not going to even start counting the time, until you be quiet and sit still. Suddenly there was silence. Thank god! Abby thought. After ten minutes Abby went over to Dylan and pulled him into a hug. "Do you have something to say? " she said

"I'm sorry." He said

"What for?"

"For copying you and not being good."

"Good boy." She said. "Let's go and get some lunch ."

Lunch didn't go too badly. In fact Dylan seemed to be back to his old angelic self. "Mom I need to go to the bathroom." He said.

"Ok Honey." Abby said "Come on we'll go on the way back to the lab."

"Mommm! I can go myself. I'm not a baby."

"Okey dokey then. I guess I'll just wait here. Come straight back." Abby said smiling first at him and then at Jimmy who had just sat down opposite her. "Hey Jimmy, how's it going."

"Good actually. You?" he said with a smirk.

Breaking the ice Abby said. "It was pretty funny wasn't it?"

"Sure was!" Jimmy said with a shy grin. "Tim didn't look like he thought it was very funny."

"THAT Jimmy, would be an understatement. You should have seen how mad he was when he realised I sent it to everyone." She sighed deeply. "Poor Timmy, his sense of humour just deserts him sometimes."

"Ah Abby hasn't Dylan been gone a while?"

"Yeh he sure has. I hope he's ok."

"Want me to go check?" Jimmy asked.

"Would you mind?"

"Of course I wouldn't." he said getting up and walking towards the men's room around the corner.

After a few minutes Jimmy was back. By himself. "Abby? He's not in there. I checked every stall."

"Oh my God! I've lost my son! What kind of mother am I?"

Abby picked up her cell phone and called Tim. "McGee" he answered.

"Timmy I've lost Dylan." She said bursting into tears.  
"Where Abby...how......where are you now?"

"I'm.....I....I'm in the.....cafeteria with Jimmy. He.....went...tothe bathroom...And he wanted."

"Don't worry Abs! We'll be there in a minute." Tim said hanging up.

"What's happened?" Tony asked when Tim hung up. Ziva, Gibbs and Sarah were also waiting for the answer.

"Dylan's gone missing from the cafeteria." He said getting up and rushing to the the time the doors opened everyone else had joined him. He smiled. He honestly didn't know how he and Abby would have managed this whole parenting thing without the help of their 'family'.

Back in the cafeteria Jimmy was awkwardly trying to comfort a nearly hysterical Abby. Tim crouched down and pulled her into a hug. "Shhh,Shhhh. Come on Abs. He's probably just off exploring somewhere. We'll find him."

"What if someone's taken him. I let him go to the bathroom by himself. Just because he wanted to."  
"Abby this is a secure building. He was only a few feet away from you. Nobody would have been able to get him out of the building past security. He'll be here somewhere." Gibbs said. And he better hope someone else finds him first, he thought.

Tim was having very similar thoughts. "Abby how was he this morning in the lab. Was he acting like himself?"

"Noo! He wasn't. He was whining and touching my equiptment after I told him not too. He even did that copying thing that my brother used to do when we were little."

Gibbs, Ziva and Tony all smirked at that. That would have been quite funny to see.

"Then I put him in time out but I didn't have a straight chair so I had to put him in a computer chair and at first all he did was spin around in circles and copy me again. He kept saying 'You're in time out,stay. You're in time out, stay'. Over and over. Eventually he sat still when I told him I wouldn't start counting the ten minutes until he was still and quiet. He was good after that Timmy! So when he said he wasn't a baby and he could go to the bathroom by himself, I thought it'd be ok."

"You did not do anything wrong Abby. I would say that he was lulling you into a safe place......'

"A safe sense of security." Tim and Tony said at the same time.

"Same thing. He was tricking you Abby so that he could make a break for it." Ziva said.

"Where do we start looking?" Sarah said.

"Tony, Ziva you take the parking garage. Abby, you go back to the lab in case he goes back there. Tim, the roof. Sarah you stay here uncase he comes back. Jimmy go check out autopsy and get Ducky to keep a watch out there and then check down the front. I'll check the bull pen and the other floors. Go!" he said.

Everyone scurried around looking for Dylan. But it was Tim who eventually found the prize. Opening the door to the roof there was Dylan, bouncing his ball against the wall. When he saw Tim he panicked and started to run "FREEZE!!!" Tim said. Dylan did literally freeze. He had never heard that voice from his father directed at him.

UH OH! He thought. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. He'd just wanted to go outside for a while.

"Am I in trouble?" he asked meekly.

"You sure are. Big trouble." Tim said pulling out his cell. "Abs I found him. He's fine.....Abby......I can't talk but YES I AM! Can you let the others know that I found him. Yes I will.....I promise."

"Are you gonna spank me?"

"Yes I am. Mom said to tell you that she loves you and she's glad that I found you. We both are. Everyone is. They're all looking for you, you know. And Dylan?"

"Yeh Dad?"

"I love you too!"  
"But you're still gonna spank me?"

"Yep.I'm afraid so."

TBC


	10. Chapter 10

Thank you again to anyone who is still reading this and to those who took the time to review. I'm very grateful. Sorry that this chapter is so short.

Chapter 10

Tim took Dylan's hand and pulled him over to where there was a short wall and sat down pulling him between his legs. He made Dylan look up at his face. "Ok Dylan what's been going on in your head today.?"

Dylan shrugged.

"That's not an answer."

Dylan got a look of determination on his face. "Th........."

Tim stopped him with a sharp smack on the bottom. Dylan's mouth fell open and he looked like he might cry.

"Now don't start that copying business with me. Mom told me that you did that to her in her lab." Dylan hung his head. "Look at me Dyl. You don't treat your mother like that. It's rude and disrespectful. Now, when you told Mom you wanted to go to the bathroom by yourself, did you go to the bathroom at all?"

"No."

"Did Mom tell you to come straight back?"

"Yeh."

"Then why did you come up here when you knew Mom would be worried?"

"I didn't know she would be worried." He said sadly.

Tim looked at Dylan's face "Did you think she might NOT be worried?"

He shrugged his shoulders again.

"Why would you think that ?"

" 'cause she was wasn't paying any attention to me and I was bored."

"Mom wasn't ignoring you Dylan, she was working. In the day during the week and even sometimes on the weekend, we have to work. Anyway, you can't act badly just because your not happy with something. Got it?"

Dylan nodded.

"Any other reason?" Tim knew by the look on Dylan's face that there was something else. "You know it's wrong to lie. If there's something else tell me. You can trust me."

"I wanted to see if someone would look for me."

"Ahhh I see." Tim said hugging him. "Well if it makes you feel any better half of NCIS was looking for you."

Dylan smiled.

"I'm sorry that you felt you had to test us like that but I'm still going to punish you. It wasn't the right thing to do. Neither was disrespecting your Mom or lying about going to the bathroom. If you're not sure about ANYTHING at all or your just feeling scared, we'll always listen but you can't ever run away to get attention. This was a very dangerous place to run to. Come on let's finish this."

Tim pulled his son over his knee and brought his hand down with a solid smack. He thought he'd already given the boy enough of a lecture so he decided to just get the spanking over with as quickly as possible. It didn't take Dylan long to start crying and it nearly broke Tim's heart. Although he knew that Abby thought he was too quick to spank, it gave him no pleasure to hurt his child. But Tim had a deep sense of duty which gave him the strength to do what he thought needed to be done. So even though he had tears in his own eyes he continued to spank Dylan with smack after stinging smack. As soon as Tim thought that he had well and truly delivered the message he pulled Dylan into a hug and soothed away his tears. "It's all over now son. Your forgiven." He said.

"Dad?"  
"Yes Dylan?"

"I'm sorry."

"I know." Tim said kissing the top of his head." Let's go to mom's lab and you can apologise to her too."

When they got to the door of Abby's lab, she rushed over to greet them. "Oh Dylan, thank God your ok. I thought that someone had taken you."

Dylan looked up at Tim who nodded. "I'm really sorry that I ran away. And I'm sorry that I was naughty this morning." He said.

Abby immediately pulled him into a massive hug. "You're forgiven" She said smiling. "Now where do you wanna spend the afternoon, down here or up in the bullpen?"

"Can I spend some time down here and then go upstairs?"  
"You sure can. But no touching the equipment ok? Abby said.

"You listen to Mom, Dylan ." Tim said giving him the look.

"I will." He said eagerly.

"Come on Dyl, I'll set you up with something in my office." Abby said putting her arm around him. As Dylan went to sit on the chair he winced. Abby shot a look at Tim but wisely decided to leave the discussion for later but she wasn't happy about it.

Tim kissed her and Dylan and went back upstairs. He found him self standing at Gibbs desk. "Ah.........Boss could I have a word please?"

"With me." He said striding towards the elevator. When the doors closed behind them he flicked the switch. "What's on your mind Tim.?"

"It's just Abby. I took Dylan down to the lab and when Abby saw that he had trouble sitting............."

"She's pissed that you spanked Dylan." Gibbs said " Tim don't beat yourself up. It's what I would've done. It's what Tony would've done. Hell it's probably what Ziva would've done. Abby's just...........Abby's all hugs and kisses and bandaids right now. You know what a perfectionist she is. She puts her whole heart and soul into everything. She's not going to be any different with motherhood, but she'll come around. She did with Sarah didn't she? She'll see that sometimes you have to be a bit hard. And Tim?"

"Yeh Boss?"

"I think you're doing a great job. Don't think she doesn't know that. She does." He said patting him on the shoulder.

Gibbs said he was going for coffee and Tim went back to work. Tim worked extra hard to clear some of the paperwork from his desk. It had been a distracting day but it wasn't fair to everyone else if he didn't pull his weight. Sarah had apparently taken herself to the mall once she knew that Dylan was safe and well. So things in the bullpen were fairly quiet.

Gibbs did in fact go for coffee but he thought he might just bring back a caf-pow for Abby and a juice for Dylan and see what was going on in the lab.

As he marched into Abby's lab he smiled to see that everything appeared to peaceful down there too. Abby was working away at her computer and Dylan was laying on his tummy on Abby's futon reading a comic. Gibbs kissed Abby on the cheek and passed her the caf-pow. Moving over towards Dylan he sat on the edge of the futon and passed him the juice.

"Thankyou .......Uncle Gibbs."

"You're welcome. Hey Dyl." he said. "You gave us a bit of a scare today." He said watching his face intently.

"I'm sorry." Dylan said

"That's ok. I guess you got in trouble with your Dad huh?" gibbs said smiling.

"He gave me a spanking."

"Oh well. I guess you kind of deserved it huh?"

'Yeh. I guess I did. I shouldn't have run away it was dangerous and I scared my Mom."

Abby looked over and smiled.

"Never mind. It's over now."

"Yeh." he said going back to his comic."

Gibbs went over and whispered in Abby's ear. "You see he's fine. Don't give McGee a hard time." And he gave her a soft smack on the bottom and left.

Abby looked over at Dylan and smiled. He WAS fine and so was she .They all were. She sent Tim a text message. When his cell dinged to indicate a message he opened it and smiled. It said............I'm sorry Timmy. you were right and I love you xoxoxox.

Later that day when they were getting ready to leave Tony asked Tim "What have you got planned tonight Probie? Chasing your kids or your wife around town?"

"Not tonight Tony, he said. "We're picking Sarah up at the mall and going home for a quiet dinner and bed. I'm beat."

"Oh well Mc Daddy! I guess you've gotta work on completing the McFamily."

"What are you talking about Tony?"Ziva said.

"Well..... they have the older sister McBrat, Now they have Mini McBrat. Now all they need is a baby McBrat and their family will be complete."

Ziva rolled her eyes and got up from her desk.

Tim spied Abby and Dylan coming down the hall from the back elevator. "Don't even think it Dinozzo. Especially in front of Abby."

"Don't think what in front of me?" Abby said.

"Tim gave Tony a murderous glare."

"Nothing." He said.

"Tim?" she asked.

"Ah.........he was just making a joke Abs."

"Ok. Let's go home."

Later that night when they were in bed Abby asked "Tim?"

"Yeh Abs?"

"What was Tony joking about."

Tim said nothing.

"Timmy?"

"He was joking about us needing a baby to complete our family."

"Oh. What did you say."

Tim said nothing.

"Timmy?"

Tim held his breath. "I said......don't even think it."

"Thank God!"

"You don't want a baby?" Tim said surprised.  
"One day maybe. Not yet."

Tim let out the breath he'd been holding and closed his eyes. "Yeh maybe one day."

"Besides." Abby said mischieviously." There are lots of little girls available to adopt."

Tim's eyes popped open.

Abby giggled.

TBC


	11. Chapter 11

Thankyou anyone who reviewed or PM'd me for the last always I really appreciate you going to the trouble.

Chapter 11

The next morning the trip to NCIS was better than the day before. Dylan still was unsure about day care but had resigned himself to the fact that he was going. As Tim walked him in, he desperately wanted to hold his hand but he didn't dare in case one of the other kids saw him. So he settled for walking very close to his Dad as this was the best that he could do. Sensing this and remembering what it was like to be a ten year old boy Tim was glad that he had kissed him goodbye in the parking station where nobody was likely to see. When they entered the day care area, Tim signed him in and ruffled his hair telling him to have a great day. Dylan gave him a watery smile and went inside with the young guy who would be looking after his group.

Tim entered the bullpen saying good morning to everyone as he sat down at his desk. Turning his cell on while his computer fired up, he smiled at the constant beeping which signalled the many messages that he knew would be there from Abby. He sent her back a quick message telling her that Dylan was fine and not to worry. Shaking his head he knew how futile that was but he didn't know what else to tell her. He just hoped that it would be true.

Down at the day care Dylan was finding it surprisingly fun. It wasn't a bit like school. Except that there were a lot of kids his own age. One in particular seemed really cool and it turned out that he lived on the same cul-de-sac as Dylan. He couldn't believe that this kid Toby had lived so close and he hadn't known. How could he have been so stupid as insisting yesterday on going to work with his Mom and Dad. He had been bored all day and then ended up getting a spanking.

"Maybe we could hang out at home sometimes." Toby said. "You could come over to my house. Or I could come over to yours or we could just throw a football in the street or something."

"I know you'd be allowed to come to my house too, maybe on the weekend. I have some great games and a basketball hoop and a pool."

"Really. That would be great. Do you think your folks would let us swim in the pool?"

Dylan thought for a moment, he didn't want to say that he couldn't swim or that he wasn't allowed past the fence without an adult. He really didn't want to sound like a baby. "Yeh sure they would. Anything you want." It wasn't exactly the truth but it probably wouldn't come up anyway because he wasn't ever alone really.

That evening when Tim and Abby picked Dylan up from day care, it was a very happy child they found. There was no trace of the nervous boy that Tim had left there that morning. "This is my friend Toby." Dylan said excitedly. "And do you wanna know the best thing?"

"I sure do!" Abby said while Tim looked on proudly.

"He lives in our street!"

"Well, hi Toby!" Abby said giving him a hug.

"Pleased to meet you Toby." Tim said smiling. "What number is your house?"

"Number 7." Toby said smiling back. "Could Dylan and I play sometimes at home?"

"I think that would be fine." Tim said looking at Abby.

"We'd love to have you if your folks say it's ok." Abby said. She could have cried with happiness that Dylan had found a friend.

"Well we have to go now." Tim said taking out a card and giving it to Toby, "but you give this to your parents it has our cell nunbers on it and if they say it's ok you can come and play on Saturday."

Dylan's happy mood stayed with him for almost the entire evening and was quite contagious. Sarah even caught the bug and giggled with him over a television show. They wrestled and Sarah tickled Dylan and the hilarity even ended up overshadowing the TV show completely. Tim and Abby were very amused at this side of Dylan. It seemed that there were many sides that were emerging as they got to really know their son. Unfortunately, the stubborn side that had come to light yeserday was still there under the surface.

When it was time for bed Tim got up and switched off the TV. "Time for bed now Dylan." He said.

"Hey! I was watching that!" he said.

"Don't speak to me like that Dylan." He said sternly. "Go get ready for bed. Now."

"I don't wanna. Sarah's not goin to bed, why do I have to go?"

"Dylan!" Abby said shocked

"You better do as you're told. Right now mister." She said as convincingly as she could muster.

Sarah watched all this with great amusement. She even let a giggle escape. It wasn't that she wanted to see Dylan get into trouble, and this WAS escalating into the kind of trouble that she'd definitely seen AND FELT before. But it was great to not be the one on the receiving end for a change.

"No! I'm not going to bed until SHE does and anyway she's laughing at me!"

"I am not!" Sarah said trying to hide her face behind a pillow. A pillow that was jumping up and down as her body shook with her fit of the giggles despite her efforts to keep it still.

"Dylan! Enough!" Tim said. "Last warning or you'll be going to bed with a sore bottom."

"Sarah! If you can't control your self go in the other room until you can."

Dylan stood up as if he was going to go upstairs, but at the last minute changed his mind. He turned around and poked his tongue out at Sarah and before either Abby or Tim could stop him he kicked her in the shins." That stopped her giggling dead.

"You brat!" she said, about to dive on him. Luckily Abby got to her first and restrained her.

"That was really naughty Dylan." Abby said but Tim already had him over his shoulder and was on his way up the stairs.

Sarah looked at Abby tentatively. "Don't worry. Even I can see he had a spanking coming that time." Abby said.

Sarah grinned, her giggling bubbling up once more. "So Abs, did Tim spank you when he saw the email you sent everyone?"

"SHHhhhh!!!! How did you know about that?"

"I'm on your contact list too. Remember? How about the school, weren't they on your list?"

Abby went white. Well whiter than usual. "Shit! Sorry I mean shoot. Crap!!!"

"Not to worry! You're lucky Abigail that I'm such a genius. Remember when I was ditching school and you didn't find out for ages?"

Abby nodded and covered her face. She didn't know if she liked where this was going.

"Well I kind of forged a note with your signature changing your email address to a fake one." she said smiling.

Abby didn't know how to react to that. Part of her wanted to hug her senseless. Another part wanted to get that hair brush and really spank the daylights out of her. A big part of her really did not want to tell Tim that there was even a remote possibility that the school may have received that email. "Crap!" she said. Sarah was just sitting there like she'd done Abby the biggest favour in the world. She really didn't know what to do or what to say.

"Sarah.............you know that was wrong, like not a little bit wrong but really really super big REALLY wrong! Don't you?"

"Yeh of course! But Abby that was then. I'm good now!" Sarah said a bit worried now that she'd said anything. She thought that it'd be funny to give Abby a bit of a scare and then she'd be all grateful and stuff when she let her off the hook.

"Look Sarah, I know your TRYING to be good now, and you have been since, let's see, SATURDAY NIGHT! But geez Sarah it's only Tuesday now! So you haven't been in trouble for three days." she sarcastically. "What am I supposed to tell Tim?"

"You don't have to tell Tim everything."

"Yes I do." Besides, he'll know what to do. I don't she thought.

"That's just great! I do you a favour and I'm the one that gets in trouble again."

"Right! Lose the tone!" Abby said. "Now , you were not doing me a favour. You were forging my signature to keep yourself out of trouble! The fact that it DID do me a favour was a bonus for me I guess but it was a favour by accident. You can't stay out of trouble Sarah by doing the wrong thing. Now I'm not going to tell Tim because I won't have to. You are going to tell him yourself. Now go to your room and I'll send him up when he's finished with Dyl."

Sarah got up and flounced up the was clearly not happy with Abby.

Up in Dylan's room Tim had his own fight. He pulled the kicking and screaming Dylan over his knee and smacked him sharply. "Dylan, enough!" he said standing him up so that he could talk to him. "You are never to kick Sarah or anyone else again in temper. Especially girls. She shouldn't have laughed when you were in trouble but it's not ok to hit or kick people just because you're mad. Now when I tell you or Mom tells you it's bed time, you don't argue. Sarah gets to stay up later because she's you're older you'll get to stay up later too. No more temper tantrums. OK?"

Dylan nodded.

Tim pulled him back over his knee and spanked Dylan a dozen times and then stood him on his feet. Giving him a kiss on his hair and a hug he sent him to the bathroom with a light smack. Teeth and bed. We'll be up in ten minutes to tuck you in ." he said and closed the door gently.

Downstairs Abby was sitting quietly. Something was definitely up. Not again Tim thought. I really thought she was starting to understand. He sat down next to her. "look if it's abo......."he started but Abby cut him off.

"No,no, it's got nothing to do with Dylan he deserved to be punished .He can't go around kicking people. It's Sarah. You need to go talk to her. She's done something a while ago and I told her she had to tell you herself."

It was Tim's turn to go white. "Oh God! She 's not......."

"No Tim of course not, geez No it's just something that she did when she was getting in trouble at school. Not a major deal but not great either."

"Can't you just tell me?"

"Sorry Timmy no can do. A promise is a promise and all that."

"Ok he said giving her a kiss and standing up. This parenting stuff is exhausting." He said wandering up the stairs. Hey, come on, we better tuck Dylan in first, I said we'd be up in ten minutes."

Abby ran up the stairs to join him and they went into Dylan's room holding hands. "Night Sweetie." Abby said.

"Night Mom." He said. "I'm sorry."

"Your forgiven." She said brightly giving him a kiss.

"Night Dyl." Tim said leaning over to kiss his cheek.

"Night Dad and I'm sorry." He said  
"I know son. I love you."

"I love you too Dad." He said sleepily"and you Mom.

"I love you too little man." Abby said smiling.

Abby went to get ready for bed herself while Tim went to see Sarah.

"Hey Sarah." He said. "Abs said you have something to tell me."

"I did something stupid a while back and I thought that Abby would think it was funny but she said it was really wrong and I had to tell you."

"And?"

"Huh?"

"Well tell me."

"Well you know how the school had Abby's email address and she had their's in case I got sick or for notifications if I wasn't there and stuff.?"

"You mean so that when kids ditch school, they can notify their parents."

"Yeh that."

"And?"

"Well I kind of forged Abby's signature and changed her email address to a fake one so that she wouldn't get any notices if I ditched school."

"And........how did you think that Abs would find this funny?"

"Well I......... I got sent one of the emails ..........because I"M on Abbys contact list, I got sent the email of you and Abby. I kind of teased her about it and asked her if you spanked her. She didn't think it was funny. She thought the school had got sent the same email that the rest of us got."

"Why did she think that?"

"Because that's what I made her think."

"Do I really have to tell you why that's so wrong?"

"Not really. But it was so long ago."

" The fact you thought it was funny scares me. Forging someone's signature is FRAUD SARAH!" he said stunned. "And giving Abby a fright like that when you know she's had a rough couple of days is just horrible and mean."

"Are you gonna spank me?"

"Not this time. This time you hurt Abby so I think you should make it up to HER. You won't go to NCIS with us tomorrow. You can stay here. Now you say you've changed now's the time to prove it. If you do anything that you shouldn't; have friends over sneak out, whatever I will give a spanking like you've never felt in your life. Now while your home you can do all the stuff that Abby and I do after work. You can pack the dishwasher , do all the laundry, vacuum, clean the bathrooms, wash the tiles and cook dinner." Sarah didn't look impressed."or you can just go right to the spanking now."

"I'll do the housework."

"Good" he said kissing her head and standing up to leave.

"I love you Sarah." He said.

"I love you too." She said.

Tim was happy to find Abby still in the shower. He quickly shed his clothes and went to join her. There was no better end to a day.

TBC


	12. Chapter 12

I appreciate the reviews that I have had for this story although there have not been many lately. So if you are reading please let me know. It is so much easier to write with feedback. Thanks guys :)

Chapter 12

After everyone had gone Sarah looked around at the breakfast mess and sighed. She'd never really looked at it before. All the cereal bowls with the gross stuff still stuck to the sides, left over butter and jelly on the plates. It really wasn't much use complaining about it, there was no one here to listen to her anyway.

Arriving in the bullpen, Abby decided to pop in and say hello before going down to her lab.

"Hi Ziva, Hi Tony and last but not least El Jefe! How are we all this morning?" Abby said chirpily.

"Good morning Ziva, Tony, Boss." Tim said.

"Well good morning to you too Mc daddy and Mc Mommy and what have you done with McBrat and mini McBrat this morning?" Tony said.

"Dylan is at Day Care and we left Sarah at home to do chores." Tim said.

"Was that wise?" Ziva said worriedly. "You do not think that she might get into some kind of a mess?"

"That's the point Ziva for her to clean up the mess." Tony said.

"I know Tony!" Ziva said. "That is not the kind of mess to which I was referring."

"What'd she do to pull KP duty?" Gibbs asked with a smirk.

"It came out, that when she was in trouble a while back that she had forged my signature to change the email address from mine to a fake one that she set up." Abby said.

"So how did that manage to just come up in conversation?" Tony said with a smile, knowing there was more to the story. There always was.

"Well Dylan threw a tantrum because he didn't wanna go to bed and he kicked Sarah and Tim took him upstairs to spank him and Sarah asked me about the email that got sent out to everyone because apparently she's on my contact list. Anyway she scared the hell outta me by saying that the school probably got sent the same email that all of you got and I thought I would die of embarrassment which is strange because I don't get embarrassed really but the thought of those stuck up........"

"OK Abby?" Tim said interrupting her. "I think they get the point."

"Oh come on Mcspoilsport! She tells such a great story." Tony said grinning. "Didn't I tell ya Zi? Never a dull moment!"

"Yes well, much as I'm extremely happy that my family has provided you with your entertainment for the day AGAIN, Tony, I'm sure that Abby has more important things to do than regale you with our family sagas." He said pointedly looking at Abby who suddenly decided to leave.

"Ok then! I guess I'll be off to do very important lab like stuff. Bye everyone. Bye Timmy!" she said planting a big wet kiss on him before she left. Tim just shook his head and grinned.

A chorus of "Bye Abs!" could be heard as the elevator doors closed.

At Day Care Toby and Dylan were cooking up plans for the weekend. Toby was coming over to play on Saturday.

"So did you ask if we could swim in the pool?" Toby asked

"Yeh........it's fine." Dylan said. It wasn't exactly a lie. Tim had said that so long as an adult was watching that they could swim in the pool.

"I know a really cool game where you throw these hoops on the bottom of the pool and then you have to time the other person while they swim down to get them."

"That sounds great! I bet I could be fastest." Dylan said. Where had that come from. He'd be lucky if he didn't end up on the bottom of the pool with the rings. Oh well he'd think of something when the time came.

At home Sarah was plodding through more of the list that Tim had left her. She actually wished Abby had left the list and not Tim. She wasn't nearly as fussy about housework as Tim was. Not only did he leave a list but he left stupid instructions about HOW things were to be done. Sarah couldn't take much more of this. She was gonna have a break. After all, even prisoners got exercise time in the yard. Maybe she would just lay in the pool for a bit and make a tiny phone call. Who would know. Anyway Tim didn't say specifically no phone calls did he? Can't remember. If I can't remember it doesn't count right?

Going upstairs she quickly put on her bikini and grabbed the cordless phone. She dug under her mattress for her secret stash of cigarettes and went out to the pool. Ahh this is the life she thought as she settled her self on a floating lounger with the phone and lit a smoke. Dialling a number she smiled when the call was answered.

Down in the lab Abby was doing inventory and dancing to her music. She was wondering how Sarah was getting on at home. Surely she wouldn't do anything that would get herself into trouble again would she? Oh well, I guess there's no point worrying about it now. What's the worst that could happen? No, no, she wasn't gonna even think about the worst. Sarah was over all that. Wasn't she? She wouldn't dare do anything really bad. Would she? Trying to shake the hinky feeling that she had Abby turned her music up really loud and tried to work. She just hoped if she did do something that it wasn't dangerous.

Not long after that Ziva called. "Abby, we are going out Tony and I to interview a suspect we are bringing back lunch. Would you like something brought back?"

"Na....I'm good...but Ziva where you're going, is it anywhere near our house?"

"Yes Abby it is not too far. Do you need something from home?"

"Ziva, I have a bad feeling. Would you and Tony check on Sarah?"

"Of course Abby."

Meanwhile at day care some older boys were befriending Toby and Dylan. "So you like it here boys?" one of the boys asked. Both Dylan and Toby nodded.

"Yeh well I guess doin painting and stuff like that is ok for kids your age, shame your not old enough to do really cool stuff." Another of the boys said.

"What kind of cool stuff?" Toby asked.

"The cool secret stuff that us older kids get to do." the first one said as they continued to alternate asking the questions or answering them.

"Can't really tell ya. First you'd have to be in the club."

"What club?" Toby bit.

"Our cool club!"

"Can we be in the club?" Dylan asked.

"Weeell.......that depends. Before ya can be in the club ya have to do an initiation."

"What's that?" both the boys asked at once.

"That's when we tell ya to do something and you have to do it."

"Even if ya scared. 'cause ya have to be brave ta be in the club."

"What would we have to do?"

"Well.....let's see. You see that lady councillor over there?"

Both the boys nodded again.

"Well......ya have ta go to her backpack behind the desk, and take her wallet and bring it back to us."

"But that's stealing! " Dylan said and Toby nodded.

"No, no it's not. It's borrowing! We're not gonna keep it. It'd just to see if you can do it bravel, without getting caught. Then if you pass the initiation, we'll put it back and then you'll be in the club. See. It's easy."

"What if we get caught?" Toby asked.

"Don't get caught." The boy said in a quiet voice.

Dylan and Toby looked at each other and then back at the older boys.

"Zac here."

"Hi, it's me."

"Sarah? I thought you weren't allowed to talk to me until Saturday night?"

"Time off for good behaviour I guess. Whatchya doing?"

"Not much. What are you doing?"

"Well I was just laying in the pool talking to you. How about a swim?"

"You sure your folks will be ok with that?"

"It's fine." Tim technically said 'don't have friends over, plural. He didn't say anything about one friend. Anyway they won't be NOT ok with it if they don't find out.

"I'll be there in about ten minutes. I'll just get my stuff. .....Oh and Sarah?"

"Yeh?"

"I've really missed you."

"I've missed you too."

Tim was down in the lab working on some computer stuff when his cell phone rang.

"McGee...............Are you sure?.......... Yes it's just so not like him................Both of them..........Well I don't really know him but he seemed like a nice kid..............yes, yes I'll be right there.

"Um...... ah......Abby? Dylan and Toby were caught trying to steal a councillor's wallet out of her backpack. I've gotta go and get Dylan."

"There must be a mistake! I know he can be a bit naughty........but stealing? Why would he do that? He doesn't need anything. They must have made a mistake. I'm coming with you. No one's gonna accuse my baby of doing something like that and get away with it!" She said totally incensed.

"I think you better stay here Abs. It would be better if I handled this. You're too emotional about this obviously."  
"Emotional! That's what you think I'm feeling? I'm not emotional McGee. I'm just plain old pissed! Some idiot thinks my son is a thief and I just wanna get to the bottom of it."

"Well you're not going down there in that mood Abby. You need to calm down."

Pacing up and down for a minute and taking some deep dramatic breaths, Abby gathered her stuff and marched to the elevator. Tim wiped his face with his hand and followed her. This was not going to be pretty.

Zac arrived and entered by the side gate. Sarah had gotten out of the pool and went to greet him. After a lingering kiss he said "You've been smoking again. You really should give those up, they'll kill you you know. If your brother doesn't get to you first."

"Yeh I know, it's just hard and with the house empty, I just couldn't resist. What do you wanna do, go for a swim or lay in the sun for a while?"

"Can we lay in that hammock?"

"Sure. Come on." she said pulling him by the hand.

They climbed into the oversized hammock and Sarah cuddled into Zac, laying her head on his stayed like this for a long while talking and occasionally kissing. They weren't really doing anything much but it mustn't have looked good.

Tony and Ziva had tried knocking and knocking and ringing the house phone. No answer. "She has to be here." Ziva said. "She would not dare run off again, Tim would spank her lights out."

"You mean he would spank the daylights out of her. And you're right. He would. Let's check around the back. She's probably having a swim."

As Tim and Abby arrived at the day care they was another couple that they recognised from their street. "Hi." Abby said

"Hi." The other woman said. Obviously shaken but she extended a hand to Abby anyway. The man did the same to Tim.

"Hi."the man said "We're Jane and Rich Aldridge. We're Toby's parents. You must be Tim and Abby McGee, Dylan's parents?"

"Yeh" Tim said. "Nice to meet you. I wish it could've been under better circumstances Dylan doesn't talk about anything else but his new friend Toby."

"Toby's the same."

Abby and Jane were off having their own conversation. They had come to the conclusion that someone had made a terrible mistake. That there was no way that either of their babies could have done such a thing. Tim and Rich looked at them and each other and shook their heads. "Let's go and see what this is about shall we?" Rich said.

"Yeh let's!" Abby said narrowing her eyes."Did you bring your gun Timmy?"

"ABBY! No I didn't! And I'm not shooting anybody." he said shaking his head at Rich's amusement.

"Feisty little thing isn't she?"he said

"You have no idea!" Tim said.

When they got inside Abby marched straight up to the desk" I'd like to see the person who has accused my son of being a thief." She said

"Abigail!" Tim said taking her hand and squeezing it.

"I'm really sorry, my wife is just upset, she's not normally this confrontational." Abby seethed next to him but stayed quiet at his threatening glare.

"That's perfectly understandable. We were shocked as well. It's so out of character for these boys to do what they did." Abby softened a little.

"Allegedly did." Jane piped up.

"There was no alleged about it, the woman explained. When they were caught, in the act, they both burst out crying and admitted to what they'd done immediately. They just wouldn't tell us why."

Abby and Jane were stunned into silence. Tim and Rich were not. Both of them spoke at the same time. "He'll tell me why." Tim said. "I know how to get the truth."

"Could we just speak to the boys now please?"

"Sure. If you'll just come this way."

Tony and Ziva slipped through the side gate unheard. The occupants of the hammock being somewhat distracted at the time. After putting his finger to his lips to indicate to Ziva to keep quiet, they crept up towards the hammock. Sticking his hand out practically between the two faces Tony boomed. "I DON'T BELIEVE WE'VE MET!"

The hammock looked like it swung around a couple of times before it eventually dumped it's occupants unceremoniously onto the ground. Zac jumped up babbling apologies "I'm really sorry, we were just......."

"No need for explanations. Really. I would say that what you were doing was pretty self explanatory really. Wouldn't you say Ziva? Any doubt in your mind as to what they were doing?"

"No Tony. None." She said straight faced. Sarah glared at him.

"No." he said ignoring Sarah's stare. "See I don't know what you saw Ziva but what I saw is two KIDS in the backyard, in a hammock, while no one was home, wearing ......" he chuckled an evil chuckle "well wearing not much of anything really, making out. Seriously making out."

"Yes Tony. That is also what I saw."

"Sarah and.........."Tony said waiting for Zac to fill in the blank.

"Zac."

"Sarah and Zac, nice name. Is that about what was happening?"

"Yes sir but.......I.........I'm sorry sir."

"And you McBrat, is that what Tim told you to do while you were staying home as PUNISHMENT!"

"You were home as a punishment Sarah? You told me you had time off for good behaviour." Zac said incredulously. "I guess I won't be seeing you on Sunday now."

"Oh I don't know about that." Tony said. "I think Tim'll have a different punishment in mind. I don't think she'll be grounded this time. And you know what Zac? I think Tim would want me to extend his invitation to lunch on Sunday because I'm sure he's gonna wanna have a word with you. I know Gibbs will. So come on Sunday. Come and meet the family!" he said menacingly.

"Um ok. I think I better go now. I'll see you then." Zac said glancing at Sarah and scurrying out of the gate.

Ziva gathered the now crying Sarah in her arms and said "Come on let us get your stuff. You better come with us."  
"I'm not getting in the car with him!" she said.

"You don't have a choice." Tony said slapping her backside. "get some clothes on and get in the car."

When she was away from where she could see him he allowed him self to smile. "I love this place." he said to

himself and then bent over to pick up a pack of cigarettes that were on the shook his head and

chuckled."Oh yeh!"he said out loud to no one.

As soon as Abby saw Dylan's face she knew. "Dylan, did you and Toby try to take that wallet?" she asked.

Dylan nodded and started to cry. Toby started to cry as well.

"Why?" both Mom's said at once.

Nothing.

"Dylan!" Tim said sternly. "Answer the question. Why?"

"Toby!?"

Looking at Tim, Dylan spoke first "It was an initiation to join the club."

"What club?" Tim asked gently.

"The big kids said if we wanted to be in the club, we had to be brave." Toby said.

"It wasn't really stealing. They were going to put it back as soon as we proved we were brave enough to take

it." Dylan said.

The councillor looked at all the parents. "I'm so sorry. If the boys can point out the kids involved, we won't suspend Toby and Dylan, we'll just let you take care of their punishment at home. The other boys will be excluded. We can't have older kids being a bad influence on the younger ones like that. Bending down she spoke to Toby and Dylan. "What those boys did was wrong, but what you did or tried to do was wrong also. You're not babies. You know that taking something that doesn't belong to you is wrong. If you do something like that again, you won't be allowed to come back here. OK?"

Both boys nodded. Looking at their parents faces and then at each other they knew that this was far from over. The worst was yet to come.

TBC


	13. Chapter 13

Thank you so much for all the reviews yesterday. It made my day and it does make it much easier to write :)

Chapter 13

Abby looked at Dylan intently. " Dylan how could you!" she said. "You are in some big trouble mister."

Tim started the car but then turned it off again and turned around. "Stealing Dylan?! You know that stealing's wrong."

"But.......they were...." Dylan started to say but tears filled his eyes and the words wouldn't come out.

"Were you going to say that they were going to put it back?" Tim asked. Dylan nodded.

"They said it..... was..... just....... borrowing." Dylan said between sobs.

"Do you think it was just borrowing? Really?"

"No."

"Why not Dylan, what do you think is the difference between stealing and borrowing?" Abby asked.

"Stealing is when you just take something and borrowing is when you ask first and wait for the person to say

it's ok." Dylan said. He started to cry again more from guilt than anything else.

" Did you ask if you could borrow the wallet or did you just take it?" Tim asked sternly.

"We just tried to take it, but she caught us when we dropped the backpack."

So which one do you think you did stealing or borrowing?"

"..............stea.....ling." Dylan said crying badly now.

Tim started the car and headed back to NCIS. When they arrived they all went straight down to the lab. "Go and wait in Mom's office." Tim said. When he was out of earshot Tim turned to Abby. "Do you wanna stay here, or do you wanna go up to the bullpen for about a while." Tim said.

Abby was torn. she really wanted to support Tim and show a united front but ........she sighed deeply and then burst into tears. "I'm sorry Timmy, I can't watch. Do you mind if I go upstairs?"

"Of course I don't! Go on. Go and talk to Gibbs and Ziva and let Tony make you laugh for a few minutes." he said kissing her gently. "This is not the end of the world you know. Kids try stuff. He's not a thief. He's just a little boy who made a silly mistake and when I'm through with him he hopefully won't do it again."

"I know how important it is for him to learn this lesson Tim but make sure you tell him that you love him ok ?" Abby said.

Abby went and gave Dylan a kiss told him she loved him and then disappeared into the elevator.

Up in the bull pen Abby was surprised to find Sarah sitting in a vacant desk looking positively glum. "What are you doing here?..............then looking at Ziva and Tony and back at Sarah, she said, "What did you do?"

Sarah said nothing she just put her head on the desk and imagined that when she raised it again they'd all be gone and she'd be back laying in the pool again. "Sarah?" Abby repeated.

Seeing as how Sarah wasn't talking Tony decided to jump in. "We called in to check on Sarah like you asked and guess what we found?"

"They're just gonna make it sound really bad, just like they always do." Sarah whined, suddenly finding her voice. "I was just having a little break. Even prisoners get a break you know Abby, and I asked Zac to come over for a swim."

"Wasn't any swimming happening there McBrat!" Tony said turning his attention to Abby. "Both of them wearing practically nothing, making out on the hammock. I love that hammock, now I'll probably have to replace it. I'll never be able to sit in it again after seeing that McGroper all over McBrat." Tony said.

"It's not even your house or your hammock you interfering old......"

"Oh you better stop right there missy! Did you just CALL ME OLD?" Tony said rounding on Sarah "Because I was just gonna hand you over to Tim, but if you don't show a bit of respect I might just have to teach you some manners first myself."

Ziva was on her way over to try and intervene but Gibbs whistled loudly to stop the commotion. Nobody noticed that Abby had slid to the floor and was crying quietly with her head in her hands until Gibbs pointed. Tony was immediately repentant. "Oh Abs! I'm so sorry I wouldn't have really hurt her, I............."

"It's not that Tony."

"You ok Abs?" Gibbs asked helping her up and pulling her into a hug. Ziva was now consoling Sarah.

Abby nodded. "I came up here because I couldn't stay down there and watch Tim tan Dylan's behind. When I got here I find out there was yet another crisis."  
"What did Dylan do?" several confused voices asked at once.

"Some older kids told him and his friend that if they wanted to join the cool club that they had to steal a councillor's wallet. Obviously they got caught."

"Ouch!" Tony said. Abby nodded.

"You know that Tim had no choice, right Abs?"Gibbs asked.

"Of course I do! I trust Timmy. I know what I would have got when I was a kid if I stole and I think Dylan knew the risk he was taking as well. I'm more upset that he did it in the first place.

Sarah who had recovered from being upset, suddenly realised the implications for her of Dylan being in trouble again."Shit!" she said. Now Tim's gonna already be in a pissed off mood."

Everyone turned their heads to stare at her.

"What? Well, he will be. You know Abs we really shouldn't upset him any more today, he might have a heart attack or something."

"I'm sure he'll cope!" Gibbs said "Now be quiet before I give you something to really complain about. Come and get these files. You can do some of my filing while you wait for Tim. Keep you busy."

"What? Am I back on the payroll again?" she said ,wishing suddenly that she hadn't used quite that tone of voice as Gibbs approached. Turning her abruptly around while handing her the files, he smacked her hard a half a dozen times and pointed to the filing cabinet. "And watch that mouth.......... Short memory Sarah. I don't mind reminding you."

Abby kissed both Gibbs and Tony on the cheek and gave Ziva a hug. "Thanks guys." she said. "I don't think I'm up to dealing with Sarah just yet. I think I need a mega Caf-pow!" Gibbs nodded at Ziva to go with her.

Down in the lab Tim had already lectured Dylan about people asking you to do things that you know are wrong and making the right choices. He was pretty confident that Dylan knew where he'd gone wrong but he intended to make sure he remembered this mistake. Pulling Dylan over his knee Tim pulled down his jeans but left his underwear on. This wasn't going to be a few sharp smacks though. Stealing was wrong and he needed for Dylan to feel just how wrong they thought it was. Tim brought his hand down hard on each cheek and then alternated until he had covered Dylan's bottom with hard smacks several times over. Then he picked up a ruler from Abby's desk and brought it down on Dylan's bottom hard. He winced at his little boy's squeal. "You will never......Smack.......Ever.........smack .......take.....smack.....anyone.....smack.......... else's...... things.........smack....without ........asking ..........smack.......... again." Tim threw the ruler back on to the desk and pulled the now wailing Dylan into his arms. "It's all over now son." He said. "You're forgiven." Dylan's painful cries slowed to sobbing and eventually stopped.

"Dad?"

"Yeh Dyl?"

"Do you think that Toby got a spanking?"

"I wouldn't be a bit surprised. And Dylan?"

"Yeh Dad?"

"I love you."  
"I love you too Dad."

Come on, let's go and find your mom."

Tim was thinking that the worst of the day was over. Unfortunately when he arrived in the bullpen holding Dylan's hand his heart sunk at the sight of Sarah doing Gibb's filing. There couldn't be a good explanation for this. Looking around he also took in the fact that both Ziva and Abby were missing. After depositing Dylan at an empty desk to draw first, Tim walked over to Sarah and turned her to face him. "I don't know what you've done but it's not good is it?"

Sarah shook her head and then looked at the ground. She hated that worn out look that Tim was wearing. Especially knowing that she was a lot of the reason he was wearing it. Why didn't she just do the right thing just this once?

"Sarah? I can't deal with you at the moment so I want you to just do whatever it is that Gibbs tells you to do. We'll take care of this at home."

She nodded.

Tim went over to Gibb's desk. He didn't even get to ask the question before Gibbs said. "She just gone for a walk with Ziva to pick up a caf-pow. She's a bit over whelmed I think. Why don't you and Tony go and get us all some fresh coffee and he can explain....." he said nodding in Sarah's direction. "I'll watch these two."

Tony had overheard and was already out of his desk and waiting for Tim by the elevator.

When they got to the coffee place they took a table. While Tony recounted the events that had led up to Sarah being brought back to NCIS, Tim sat stony faced. Tony was starting to wonder if he had done the right thing. "Tim ? Tim I'm sorry if I overstepped the mark."

Shaking himself out of his trance Tim spoke finally. "No, no Tony. You did the only thing you could have done. And thank you. I just...........I ......honestly don't know what to do with her. Just when I think she's settling down, she defies me again. Nothing works."

"I think this time the temptation of being alone with this Zac probably overrode her sense of reason. They were pretty I don't now how to put this............glad to see each other. What kind of kid is he?"

"Actually I think he's ok. I'm glad you asked him or TOLD him" Tim chuckled "to come on Sunday, I do need to talk to him. I suspect though that Sarah probably led him to believe that we were ok with him being there. I love Sarah and this is not totally her fault. My parents had her later in life and she's........ well she's spoilt. She wants what she wants and although she really is a nice person, she's manipulative when it comes to getting her own way."

"What are you gonna do?" Tony asked.

"What can I do, but keep reinforcing that she won't get away with this stuff and hopefully she'll get tired of bucking the system and stop."

"Look Tim I really don't want to heap anything else on you today but I found these under the hammock." He said tossing the cigarettes on to the table.

"Just when I thought the day couldn't get any better." He said sarcastically. "But thanks Tony, I don't think I would've got through all this without all of you."

"Always got your back Probie."

That night in Sarah's room. "Talk to me Sarah, what was going through your head. When we talked last night I know you had every intention of doing the right thing. What happened to change that.?"

"Tim I............. I don't know. I was cleaning up the breakfast stuff and thinking how gross it was and then I did a couple more of the things off the list. Then I thought I'd take a break."

Tim took the cigarettes out of his pocket. "Did your break involve smoking these?"

"Yeh. Sorry. Then I thought I would sneak a call to Zac. I know I shouldn't have but that's when it all went wrong...........I miss him Tim. I've never felt like this about a guy before. So I really was just gonna talk to him but I was alone and I thought if I could just see him for a little while nobody would find out and it wouldn't be so bad to wait until Sunday."

"So what did you say to him to get him to come over?"

"Look Tim I know what you're getting at and your right. It wasn't Zac's fault. I told him I had time off for good

behaviour that it was ok."

"Well if you knew it was wrong you goose, why did you do it?" Tim said tapping her lightly on the leg.

"Because he wouldn't have come otherwise."Sarah said softly.

"Do you see where you're going wrong here?" Tim said "We always come back to you manipulating to get your own way."

"I don't mean to it just happens."

"No Sarah , it doesn't. You choose to do the wrong thing. Do you remember what I said would happen if you

did the wrong thing this time?"

"You promised me a spanking I've never felt before."

"That's right. Get me your hairbrush."

"Tim......"

"Now Sarah."

Sarah handed Tim the brush. He beckoned for her to stand next to him. "The next time that you decide to defy me I want you to remember this spanking." With that he yanked her over his knee and pulled her Pyjama pants down to her thighs. He didn't waste any more time talking but paddled her bare bottom with the brush until the slow building burn was more than she could take. By the time Tim stopped, Sarah literally felt like her ass was on fire. Tim replaced her pyjama pants before he pulled her up and into his lap. She winced but clung on any way, gladly accepting his comfort.

After Sarah had calmed down she looked up into Tim's face,"I'm sorry Tim and I will try."

"I hope so Sar. I'm really trying here and so's Abby."

"I know."

"And Sarah ........you know that having a boy here when someone's not home.........."

Sarah cut him off. "Please Tim, I'd rather talk to Abby about this."

"Fair enough." he said. Thank God! he thought.

"Oh and Sarah?"

"Yeh Tim?"

"You can write me another essay about the smoking. You can research different alternatives for people who need help to give up."

"OK." Sarah said.

A little while later Tim and Abby were sitting in the dark listening to music in the living room.

"Timmy?"

"Yeh Abs."

"I was thinking about this thing with Sarah."

"Yep what were you thinking?"

"Well when I was talking to Ziva, she thinks that things between Sarah and Zac are getting...........you know.......hot and heavy I guess."

"Well............. we'll have to keep a better eye on her."  
"Timmy, we can't lock her up for ever. Sooner or later we're gonna have to .............."

"Please don't go there Abs I don't think I can take it. Not today."

"Sorry Timmy but it has to be said. We need to talk to them about protection."

"Oh God! Just when I thought the day couldn't possibly get any better!he said sarcastically for the second time that day.

"Would it help if I told you I love you?"

"It'd help a lot." Tim said smiling.

"I love you Timmy McGee."

"I love you too Mrs McGee."

TBC


	14. Chapter 14

Thank you again for all the great reviews. I had a question from Diana . In this story Sarah is 17 and still in high and Abby are her guardians.

Chapter 14

The next day Abby did something that was most unusual for her. She took the morning off. Sarah had lost the privilege of staying home alone again but Abby wanted to talk to her and she wanted it to be at home. Just the two of them. She wanted Sarah to be able to open up without interruptions in a place that she was comfortable. So Tim took Dylan to day care and went to work while Abby and Sarah would follow later in the hearse.

"So! What will we do first? I know, let's put on our bikinis and sit out side on the patio for a while. Or, I'll sit on the patio and you can lay in the sun." Abby said cheerily."

"I don't know Abs. I............"

"Don't worry about that. Your red bottom isn't anything I haven't seen before believe me, only usually it's looking back at me from the mirror." Sarah giggled. Abby didn't usually talk at all about Tim spanking her but she wanted Sarah to open up to her and she thought by sharing a little it might break the ice. "Come on. Let's go and get changed."

Twenty minutes later found them outside, Sarah laying in the sun and Abby close by on the edge of the patio but in the shade. "Do you wanna talk about it?" Abby asked tentatively.

Sarah shrugged and looked embarrassed.

"Ok then! I may have worded that wrong. Hun let's talk about what happened yesterday." At the 'here we go look' on Sarah's face, Abby resisted the urge to sigh. "I'm not talking about the stuff you got spanked for, that's over. I wanna talk about you and Zac."

"I........I don't know what you want me to say." Sarah said.

"Well, how about you tell me about him. Tell me what he's like, what things you like the most about him."

"He's really good looking and....... smart."

Abby nodded. "And cute, he's really cute, don't forget that."

Sarah grinned sheepishly. "Yeh he is....and......I don't know. He's, kind of different to other boys."

"In what way?" Abby asked trying to prompt without pushing too hard.

"It's hard to explain. He seems kind of older. When I'm with him I feel like he cares about me. Like he really cares about me. He never tries to........never mind."

"You can tell me anything Sarah, I won't be shocked."

"It's embarrassing."

"Are you trying to say that he doesn't push things?"

Sarah nodded. "If I say I wanna stop he does and he doesn't make me feel bad."

"Well that's a really good thing." Abby said thinking maybe they should back off from that and come back.

"Why do you think he's more mature than the other boys?"

"I think because his Dad is a marine. He's always been kind of strict and when he's away, he expects Zac to be

the man of the house. To be a good example to his younger brother and sister. I guess it becomes a habit."

"Do you think he might remind you of someone?" Abby said with a smirk.

"I know what you're thinking and that's really gross." she said trying not to smile.

"You have to admit, they don't look anything alike but there ARE similarities."Abby said.

"I guess Zac can be kind of bossy. That's definitely like Tim."

"Nothing sexier than a take charge Timmy!" Abby said pigtails swinging.

"Lalalalalala laalalla!" Sarah said with her fingers in her ears. "There is absolutely positively NOTHING SEXY about my BROTHER! Yuk! That is soooo gross."

"Alright you win we won't talk about Tim and sex in the same sentence."

"Thankyou!" Sarah said gratefully.

"Ok, lets get back to what happened yesterday."

"If Tony and Ziva hadn't interrupted you, how far would it have gone?"

"God Abby! Do we really have to talk about this?"

"Yep! Look Sarah if your Mom was here, there is no way I would cross your boundaries, but we need to know what's happening with you. If you'd rather talk to Tim....."

"God no! Oh Abs, God no! I couldn't talk to Tim about this."

"Then I guess that leaves me and you should really answer the question." she said. "Come on... put my mind

at rest and we might have time to have a quick swim before we have to go in to NCIS."

" Honestly I don't know. We were just kissing. Well maybe a little more than kissing but that's it. Abby I

haven't even........."

"So your telling me you're a virgin."

"What? Is there something wrong with that?" Sarah said defensively.

"Absolutely not! Hun there's no right or wrong. Only you know when you're ready. But Sarah, it's really not a

good thing to get yourself in a situation like that, in a house when no ones home. If you're not wearing much.

And I understand that you were going to go for a swim, but kissing and touching can kind of get out of hand

before you know it. I don't want you to put yourself in a situation where things can get out of hand until you're

ready."

"I know but Zac wouldn't ever make me...."

"You're probably right that Zac wouldn't push you but Sarah sometimes in the heat of the moment you might

not want to stop yourself."

"Abby I'm............I'm not ready."

"Well that's good, but Sarah when you ARE ready? Please promise me that even if you think that you're even

close to being ready, that you'll come to me and we'll talk again about getting you you

actually have sex."

"I promise."

"Good the lecture's almost over." Sarah rolled her eyes. "There's only one more thing. People make mistakes

about their first time. Try to make it some where nice with someone you love, because sex with the person you

love is so much better than sex with a person you don't love." Abby looked at Sarah and was surprised to see

tears in her eyes. "Hun are you ok?"

"Yeh I'm fine. I really love you Abs, I'm so sorry I'm such a pain in the ass."

"That's ok. You're a teenager. It's your job. Don't tell Timmy but I may have been a bit of a pain in the ass

myself when I was a kid."

"I think he might of guessed that himself by now."

"Ya think? What do you wanna do now? We could go for a swim or go to the mall and get a burger and a caf-pow?"

"And get our nails done?"

"Perfect!" Abby said.

It was a very sober Dylan and Toby that entered day care that morning. Both were under instructions from

their folks to apologise for their behaviour the day before. Both were embarrassed. The only thing that made it

easier was the fact that they had each other and the older kids were now gone. Apologies over and accepted

the boys decided to do painting. It might be babyish but at least they could stand to do it.

"Did you get in bad trouble?" Toby asked.

"Sure did. You?" Dylan said.

"Yep. My Mom yelled at me and my Dad spanked me with a hairbrush. It hurt." Toby said.

"My Dad spanked me with a ruler. It hurt too. My Dad says that's the point." Dylan said.

"That's what my Dad said too. He said if I ever steal anything ever again he'll spank me so hard I'll think my

butt is on fire!" Toby said .

"Are you still allowed to come over this Saturday?"

"I think so."

"Good."

"Whatcha painting?" Toby asked.

"My family. I wanna give it to my Mom."

Abby and Sarah arrived back at NCIS feeling more refreshed and happy than they had in a while. Sarah

decided to spend the afternoon helping Abby in her lab. This gave Tim some much needed peace and Gibbs

actually managed to get some work out of his team.

"It's kind of quiet around here isn't it." Tony said

"It is quiet." Ziva said

"Sure is." Tim said.

"Get back to work!" Gibbs said and then his phone rang. Hanging up he bellowed the usual "Grab your gear!"

And they were off. All of them grateful for the distraction.

When the team came back, Abby stayed to process the evidence while Tim went to fetch Dylan. It didn't take

very long to set things in motion and she would collect the results the following day. She was waiting in the

bull pen when Tim and Dylan came back. "I thought you were going straight home." Abby said hugging Dylan

and giving Tim a kiss. "I have the hearse."

"Dylan had something for you and he couldn't wait to show you." Tim said.

"Really? What is it honey?" she said excitedly.

Dylan pulled from behind his back a very large picture that had been folded. He slowly unfolded it and held it

up. Everyone gathered around proudly. On the top of the picture was a heading 'My Family'. Under neath the

heading was Tim and Abby holding hands. Dylan was holding Tim's hand and Abby had her arm around Sarah.

Tony and Ziva were also holding hands and they were standing next to Dylan. Ducky and Jimmy were

standing next to Sarah and Gibbs was at the back. He was really big and he had his arms around all of them.

They were all smiling.

Dylan looked around at all of the faces. Every one had tears in their eyes. "What's wrong is it bad?" he said.

"No it's excellent!" Abby said at once. We're all just happy crying because it's beautiful."

Everyone nodded.

"Did you see the extra person?"

"No." Abby and Tim both said at once examining the picture.

"Down here. The dog! The only thing that's in this picture that we don't have is a dog!"

"Oh Timmy!"

"No Abigail!"

"Come on Dad!"

"Tim come on! We could get one of those little dogs that you can put in your purse!"Sarah said

"No! I wanna have a big dog like a ...I don't know but a big dog!" Dylan said.

Tim just rolled his eyes. Gibbs smirked.

"Come on Timmy let's go home." Abby said herding everyone into the elevator.

"See Ziva! Never a dull moment!" Tony said.

TBC


	15. Chapter 15

Thank you all for the lovely reviews I really appreciate it. I'm not just saying it it really does make it easier to write when you ge feddback. So thankyou :)

Chapter 15

They discussed getting the dog after dinner that night, and on and off all throughout the evening. Tim wasn't convinced that getting a dog was such a great idea. He knew that most of the basic care would end up falling on him. Abby was now nearly as desperate for a dog as the kids were.

"Who's gonna pick up the poop?"Tim said.

"I will!"Dylan said "Dylan will!" Sarah said. Both at the same time.

"Hey!" Dylan said.

"Do you wanna dog or not. We're not allowed to lie in this house. I'll brush it bath it, feed it, anything else but I'm not picking up poop!" Sarah said.

"Ok done! I'll pick up the poop." Dylan said in a matter of fact tone.

"Hey! This is not a done deal. We haven't said we're even getting a dog. We'll think about it."Tim said

"We'll think about means no!" Dylan said pouting. Sarah nudged him, knowing he wasn't helping their cause.

"Stop right now Dylan or 'we'll see' will definitely turn into a NO!" Abby said. She could also see the merit of staying on Tim's good side.

After the kids had gone to bed Tim said. "I know you wanna get the dog for the kids but I think we should think seriously about it. Don't you? It's a big decision. Getting a dog can change your life."

"I know!" Abby said on a completely different wave length.

Tim's vision was of chewed up socks and puppy business all over the carpet. Abby's vision was the kids and the dog laughing and romping in slow motion through a field of flowers with the wind in their hair as they all sat down to a picnic on a chequered table cloth while the dog looked on panting politely doing everything it was told.

The next afternoon, work was slow for Abby, and Tim was still doing cold cases so she took Sarah and they picked Dyl up a little early from day care. Tim was going to catch a lift with Tony and Ziva.

"Abs do you think we could just go and look at a shelter to see what kind of dogs they have? Sarah asked.

"Can we Mom please, please please!!! Dylan begged

"You know what. Why not. So long as you both understand we're just looking. We agreed to think about it. We're not getting a dog today. Ok?"

"We know!" they both agreed.

A few hours later they were at home and Tim was due to arrivesoon.

"Ok here's the plan. Dylan, don't say anything until I have a chance to explain to your Dad."

"Do you want me to stay in my room?

That'd probably be for the best. For a while at least but you'll have to come down for dinner. Don't come down until I call you and you know the coast is clear. And be careful.

"Sarah you know what to do. If I call your name we go with plan B. That shouldn't go over too badly. "

"No problem." She said running up the stairs just as Tim opened the door.

Abby's idea was to lure Tim into some special alone time and break the news to him when he was at his happiest. But things in the McGee household never go to plan.

"Hey Abs, Tim said kissing Abby as he came through the door with Tony and Ziva. "Tony and Ziva are gonna stay for dinner and a movie ok? We brought Pizzas and DVD's."

"Oh great!" Abby said trying to sound convincing. Ziva picked up on this straight away and felt terrible.

"Oh Abby, if we are intruding we can make it a different evening. Did you have plans?"

"Um..... no of course not! I.......your always welcome. You know that." She said hugging Ziva and whispering in her ear. "I'll tell you later." Ziva nodded while Abby mentally rearranged her plans. This was good anyway, probably even better. He couldn't really kill her while Tony and Ziva were here, could he?"

Tony was already wearing a big grin. He had developed a 'gut' similar to Gibbs and his 'gut' was telling him that there would be a show here again tonight. "Hey Abs, he said returning her hug, where's McBrat and mini McBrat?"

"Oh they're just upstairs in their rooms." She said smiling.

"Trouble?" Tim enquired raising an eyebrow.

"No. No trouble. They're just hanging out in their rooms."

"I might just go up and say hello, see if Dylan would like to play a game or something." Tony said going towards the stairs.

"No." Abby said a little too fast.

Tim looked at her suspiciously. "There has been trouble hasn't there? You're not covering for them are you?"

"No! Of course not!" Abby said as if she would never contemplate such a thing. Well she wasn't covering for them. Covering for herself maybe but definitely not the kids. "I just thought that it might be better if he played outside for a while. Tim's one hour rule and all."

"Oh........ Okay." Tony said. "I'll just go up and get him."

"No need I'll just call him "Dylan! Dylan honey! Uncle Tony and your FATHER ARE HERE! Come DOWN stairs! Probably can't hear me, I'll just go on up and see what's keeping him."

"You know what Abs, I need to use the head. I won't be a moment." he said dashing up the stairs. "Oh yeh!" Tony thought. "Something's up here she doesn't want us to see." Doing a quick about turn he headed to Dylan's room only to find himself cut off by Abby.

"Bathroom's that way Tony."she said pointing down the hallway.

"Yeh............... right." He said looking at her through narrowed eyes. By this stage both Tim and Ziva were starting up the stairs to see what was happening. Abby panicked.

"Sarah Hun bring out your surprise." She said loudly. Next thing Sarah appeared with a tiny little wiry hair dog.

When Sarah appeared with the dog Tim and Ziva were half way up the stairs. They stopped dead.

"Oh my god!" Ziva sqealed. An unusual sound for her to make. "She is just gorgeous. Sarah! What will you call her?"

Tim crossed his arms. "Abby didn't we talk about THINKING about this?"

"We did. I know, but Timmy LOOK at her. She's so tiny. And she was at the shelter Timmy and she needed a home. I couldn't walk out and leave her there. She pleaded to us with her eyes.I couldn't just leave her there."

Tim looked at the dog and shook his head. "Pass her over here Sarah." He said. The dog immediately cuddled into him and looked up into his face and he knew he had lost. "She is pretty cute." He said smiling and scratching her on the head. "Oh well. I guess we have another member of the family."

Another beautiful Mcgee family moment. Until , all hell broke loose again. "I guess it's safe to let Dyl out of his room now." Tony said opening the door before Abby could stop him.

Tim and Ziva were still perched on the stairs, Tim holding the new miniature dog and Ziva petting it on the head when out of nowhere what only could be described as a huge dog that was almost the size of a small horse came barrelling out of Dylan's room and down the stairs. It managed to knock over everything in it's wake including Tim, Ziva and several pot plants. He darted around the house excitedly jumping up on everyone and licking them running in circles. Tim was speechless. He screwed his face up in disgust at the trail of drool that was running down his suit pants as he watched the monster destroy their living room.

Tony was in hysterics. He had seen some shows in this house but this was the mother of all shows. After leaping over the sofa several times and sprinkling kibble all over the floor Abby was finally able to clip his leash on and lead him outside. She was actually wondering if maybe she should just stay out there when she heard Tim bellowing.

"ABIGAIL!!!"He had sent the kids to their rooms which wasn't a great sign. In Abby's book it meant that whatever he was gonna say or do that he couldn't do it in front of the kids. Resigning herself to her fate she went back inside.

"See Timmy I know what you're thinking."

"Oh do enlighten me Abs....What am I thinking.?"

"Do you wanna know what I think your thinking or what I wish you were thinking?"

"I'm curious. Both."

This was good. This was buying some time. "Well I think your thinking that I went behind your back and bought a dog, well actually two dogs but you already said that the little one could stay so that doesn't really count. But I think you're really pissed about the big dog and you're sorry that Ziva and Tony are here because you can't wait to spank my ass."

"Partly true." He said

"Which part?"

"The part where you think I care that Ziva and Tony are here and you think I'm waiting until they go home. Now tell me what you wish I WAS thinking."

"I wish you were thinking that you love me so much that you can understand how I had to save a poor little dog that was on death row and that you can't wait to thank me for enriching our family with yet another valuable member."

Tim had to smile. "That one's not even close, except for me loving you. And that is not a little dog. You know I love you but I don't understand why out of all the dogs that were supposedly on 'death row' you had to save the largest one. I will be very surprised if that baby horse is going to enrich our lives with anything other than gigantic piles of manure everyday.

Looking at the massive dog that was slobbering all over the glass patio doors, Abby put her finger to her lips. "Shhh he 'll hear you."

"That's not all he's going to hear!" Tim said rounding on Abby.

"Come on Timmy, you don't wanna do this here. Your gonna embarrass our guests."

"They're not guests. They're family. Remember? This gonna embarrass you Tony?"

"Nope! All part of the admission price."

"You Ziva?"

"Well Tim I............."Ziva tried to say in an effort to save Abby.

"Tony put his hand over Ziva's mouth. It's rude to talk in the middle of the show Zi-va." He said.

"See Abs? Nobody's bothered ." he said putting his foot on a chair and flipping her over his knee. After a dozen moderately hard spanks to her tight black pants, and after a lot of howling from the patio from Abby's loyal friend, he let her up and kissed her head. "He stays out side! And you're picking up the poop."

"I will Timmy. I promise."

"Kids!"Abby shouted "He's staying!"

The kids thundered down the stairs and threw themselves at Tim. "Thankyou Thank you Thank you." They both said. Before they could stop him Dylan had opened the back door and the dog once again bounded through the house. Tony made a mad dash to save the pizzas while Ziva saved the tiny dog.

After about fifteen minutes of chasing the large dog around the house Tim this time managed to get him on a leash and lead him back outside. "The big dog needs to stay outside Dyl. He's too big for the house". Abby said.

"This is ridiculous." Tim said. "We can't catch these dogs if they don't even have names. Sarah you can name your dog and Dylan can name his dog. So what'll it be kids?"

"I think I'll call her Lulu." Sarah said.

"I'm gonna call mine Rex."

"Fine." Tim said. "Now we know what to call them at least. Let's heat up that pizza. I'm starving."

"Me too!" Tony said looking in the cabinets to find trays so they could heat the pizzas.

Later that night when the kids were asleep Tim and Abby lay cuddling on the hammock in the yard. Rex slept peacefully beneath them snoring loudly. "You know Timmy, there's something to be said for making out in a hammock."

"I would happily make out with you anywhere Abs" Timmy said.

"How about the pool?"

Tim thought for a minute. "We'd have to go inside and change our clothes........"

"Not necessarily." Abby said with a big grin pulling out her pigtails. "Come on Timmy when was the last time you went skinny dipping?"

"Ah..............um .......never have..." Tim said.

"Never?..........Oh Timmy!" she said suggestively while pealing off his clothes. "We're gonna have to fix that oversight immediately."

"Are you sure the kids are asleep?"

"Out like a light." She said continuing her quest to get her husband naked.

Tim who was now almost naked pulled Abby's Tshirt over her head and kissed her passionately as his thumbs found her.........

They were suddenly interrupted by a squeaky gate. While they fumbled around desperately looking for their clothes they came face to face with a very shocked Anthony Dinozzo. "Crap! I'm really gonna have to burn that thing now." he said.

"What the hell are you doing here Dinozzo?" Tim said trying to cover his wife who was so busy giggling that she couldn't do it herself.

"I did ring the doorbell but no one answered. Ziva left her cell phone........Sorry about that. I'll just sneak in the back way and out the front door. Forget I was even here." He said backing up to the front door. When they was sure that he was gone they both burst out laughing.

"That's some dog you've chosen there Abs. Listen to him he didn't even change the rhythm of his snores."

"He's had a big day." Abby defended.

"You wanna go for a swim?"Tim asked.

"I'd rather finish what we started first."

"I'm sure that could be arranged." Tim said making short work of the rest of Abby's clothes.

"Timmy?"

"Yeh Abs?"

"Thanks for not being too mad about the dogs."

"I could never stay mad at you for long."

"Timmy?"

"Yeh Abs?"

"I love you."

"I love you too and Abs?"

"Yeh Timmy."

"Promise me you'll never change."

"I promise."

TBC


	16. Chapter 16

Thank you so much for the reviews and alerts. They make my day and it helps me to write. :)

Oh and if anyone's wondering I see Rex as a Saint Bernard and Lulu as a Chihuahua/ maltese mix.

Chapter 16

Saturday finally came and Dylan was beside himself with excitement. Toby was coming over today. After breakfast Tim was outside with a shovel cleaning up the poop, (He really had no intentions of making Abby do it) so that he could mow the lawn. Abby was at the supermarket getting weekend supplies. There was a knock on the door. Dylan rushed to answer it and after he sang out to Tim that Toby was there, he and Toby raced up to his room. Toby was in awe at the cool stuff that Dylan had especially his TV.

"WOW!!! He said. "I have a TV but it's not that big and it doesn't hang on the wall. This is neat. Can we play?"

"Sure, anything you want." Dylan said. "Wait until you see our new dogs. Mine's the biggest dog you ever saw and Sarah's dog is tiny."

"Really? When did you get them?"

"Yesterday."

"Can I see them?"

"We can go and see Sarah's dog Lulu. She's in her room but we can't see Rex until my Dad's finished with the lawn. He might get inside and he makes a really big mess. Come on we'll go and see Lulu. Sarah's asleep, she won't care if we're quiet."

Creeping into Sarah's room, careful not to make any noise, Dylan and Toby looked down at the little bundle of fur and wagging tail that was trying to get their attention. Dylan picked her up and held her near his face and was rewarded with face full of doggy kisses. Toby petted her and Dylan passed her over so that Toby could meet her properly. Lulu wagged her tail and licked Toby's hands excitedly making him giggle.

"She's soooo cute. Can we take her back to your room and play with her?"

"I don't know." Dylan said "She's not really my dog."

"It's fine Dyl." Sarah piped in sleepily. "Just watch her ok?"

"We will. Thanks Sarah." He said as they bustled out of her room taking Lulu and the doggy basket with them.

When they got into Dylan's room they played with Lulu for a while and then settled on which video game they were gonna play. "I'll need two hands." Toby said.

"That's alright just put her in the basket and she'll go back to sleep."

Toby settled her in and she snuggled contentedly and went back to sleep as Dylan had predicted. They didn't play for long though before they heard Tim calling them.

"Hey boys? I'm finished outside if you wanna go for a swim?"

"Yes!" The boys both said at once stripping off their T shirts. Both were already wearing board shorts ready for when the time came. They ran downstairs not remembering Lulu. Lulu jumped out of the basket and looked around. Finding herself completely alone she decided to follow the scent of the two boys. She slipped out of the bedroom and down the stairs unnoticed.

As they went outside through the patio doors Rex came bounding over to greet them. He jumped all over the boys and nearly knocked them flying. Dylan was laughing hysterically at Rex's antics and just closed his eyes as Rex smothered his face with sloppy kisses. Toby wasn't too sure about this giant dog though so Tim came to the rescue, pulling on his collar and saying "sit Rex! Sit!" Rex wasn't taking that much notice of Tim so he opened the pool gate and he and the boys managed to slither inside leaving a panting Rex standing on the outside of the fence looking in. Eventually he gave up trying to get attention and went to lie down in the shade. Nobody noticed that the door had been left open a crack in all the kafuffle and Lulu had found her way out into the big world.

Abby arrived back with the groceries and let herself in the front door carrying bags of groceries. Looking to see if Tim was around and figuring he must be busy with the kids she decided to just get them in by herself. This took several loads. By the time she was back in with the last load Sarah was frantically running down the stairs. "What's the matter Hun?" Abby asked worriedly.

"It's Lulu. I can't find her. I said the boys could play with her in Dylan's room but they weren't there and neither was she and the door was open."

"Okay....calm down. She has to be here somewhere. Just let me put the fridge stuff away and I'll help you look."

"Are you sure she didn't get out when you were getting stuff out of the car?"

"Well I can't be a hundred percent certain Sar but I think I would have noticed and I think she would have come up to say hello." Abby said as she bundled the ice cream into the freezer and the milk in the fridge. "Ok, I'm all yours." they scouted around the bottom half of the house and decided to check upstairs.

"Hang on." Abby said "I'll just check with Timmy first." Going to the back door she noticed it was open a crack. "Sarah, I think she might be out here the back door's not closed."

"Hi Toby! How are you hun?" Abby said as she went out side

"Good thankyou, Mrs McGee!" Toby called back.

"Hey you guys seen Lulu? Sarah can't find her? The back door was open a bit."

"No Abs I haven't seen her." Tim said "You want me to help you look?"

"Na we'll find her, you stay with the boys, they look like they're having fun." Abby said, proudly watching Dylan for a moment. She was surprised at how quickly he had gained confidence in the water. Not enough to be allowed to swim alone yet but definitely enough for him to be able to play with Tim watching him. She smiled as she watched Tim too; it certainly didn't look like it was a chore to be watching the kids. He was having just as much fun as they were.

Sarah had joined her outside now and was grumbling something about the monster dog eating her baby. "He wouldn't do that Sarah. Rex's a gentle giant." Abby defended. What Abby saw next warmed her heart even more to her gentle giant of a dog. He was asleep in the shade with Lulu curled up in front of him with her head on his paw as a pillow. "Oh Sarah look................" she whispered.

"Oh my god they are so cute Sarah whispered back. I've gotta go and get my cell phone so I can put a picture of this on facebook."

After lunch Dylan and Toby were upstairs in Dylan's room playing. Abby and Tim were downstairs in the living room watching a movie. They were both very tired after not getting much sleep the night before so they cuddled up on the sofa and neither of them remembers anything of the movie after the opening credits. Abby and Tim were sound asleep.

Toby and Dylan came down a little while later to see if it was ok to go back in the pool. Finding his parents sound asleep Dylan found himself in a bit of a dilemma.

"Don't wake them up Dyl! We can just go in by ourselves. Don't ya wanna play that game when you dive under to get the rings?"

Dylan didn't really know what to say. He knew he should say 'I can't swim good enough to play that game and I'm not allowed in the pool area without an adult.' But it was really hard. He was trying to impress Toby and he didn't want him to think he was a baby who wasn't allowed to do anything on his own. So what he found himself saying not very loudly was "Of course I do. Come on."

When they got outside they found that the gate was just a little too high so they had to get a chair to climb on. As they got closer to the gate Rex woke up and started to bark.

"Shhhh Rex!" Dylan said patting him on the head. Rex layed down in front of the chair. Dylan tried to move him but the dog weighed way more than him and it proved to be a hard task to get inside the gate. This made things difficult but not impossible. They had to lean over to lift the latch and jump over Rex as the gate swung open. Rex rushed in too before the gate swung shut. Lulu yapped disagreeably at being left behind but then realised all she had to do was dart under the fence.

Toby stood on the edge of the pool ready to set the timer on his watch as Dyl threw the rings down the bottom of the pool. When the last ring was thrown Toby hit the starter on his watch and dove in. Rex and Lulu both started barking furiously and running up and down. They really didn't like it that one of the boys had gone out of their sight. Rex stood at the gate and howled , barked and whined very loudly. Lulu darted back under the fence and started yapping furiously at the back door.

It was Abby who woke up first. She went to the back door calmly to see what the problem was, thinking that the boys were still upstairs. When she saw that Rex was inside the pool fence she raced out side. Throwing the chair out of the way she made short work of opening the gate, and realising that only Dylan was sitting on the edge she dove in and swam to the bottom of the pool, grabbing Toby and pulling him to the surface.

Toby was completely surprised. He coughed and spluttered, more because he wasn't sure what was happening than because he was drowning. He was just about to collect the last ring when Abby had grabbed him. "Am I in trouble? We were just playing a was my turn."

"Your turn to do what Toby?" Abby said breathlessly.

"To dive down the bottom of the pool and collect these rings." he said holding up his prize.

Abby zeroed in on Dylan who looked down at the water, not wanting to meet Abby's eyes. "Do you mean to tell me Dylan," she said climbing out of the water and heading towards him, that not only were you inside the pool fence where you're not supposed to be, but that you were about to take a turn at this game?"

"Um.............ah........I...."

He didn't get to finish as Abby pulled him to his feet and landed several hard whacks to his backside." She pointed at Toby. "Get out of the pool now Toby please, and go and get dressed."

Tim was just realising that Abby was no longer beside him and went towards the commotion. He was shocked to find two crying children coming towards the back door with Dylan being smacked very soundly by Abby every second step he took. The dogs were yapping and barking beside the kids as if they were scolding them. As they reached the back door Abby gave Dylan a final smack and sent him up to his room. Toby didn't need to be told to follow him. He ran, making sure to give Abby a wide berth as he went. As they disappeared up the stairs Abby threw herself into Tim's arms and burst into tears."

Still a bit stunned and not realising that Abby hadn't been watching them while they swum Tim asked. "What did they do?!"

"What did they do?! Tim they could have drowned. We were in here sleeping and they were out in the pool playing some kind of hinky diving game! Toby was on the bottom of the pool! I thought he was dead! I really did! I thought that I had slept while someone elses child drowned in our pool. I want it gone, I don't care how, I wanna fill it up with cement or drain all the water out of it and fill it with rocks I don't care but I don't ever wanna look at that pool again! And now Dylan's gonna hate me! I spanked him in front of his friend. While I was angry. I didn't even wait until I'd calmed down. I'm a monster!"

"Hey , hey come on Abs calm down. Shhhhh,Shhhhhh" he said as he tried to sooth her."Look Abby, we shouldn't have fallen asleep but we did but we didn't leave them outside without supervision, we told them to stay upstairs. What they did was very naughty. At least what Dylan did was. He knew that he wasn't allowed to go inside the pool fence and he did it anyway. He deserved a spanking. If I had found them I probably would've reacted the same way. We'll talk about the pool when you've calmed down but if it'll make you feel any better, after I take Toby home I'll go and buy a padlock and chain. Nobody will be able to get in without a key. OK?" Abby nodded she was starting to calm down.

Next thing a little head popped around the corner. "I'm really sorry Mrs McGee, I'll never go inside the fence again unless you say. But it was my fault too, you shouldn't just blame Dylan. He wanted to wake you and Mr McGee up and ask and I said don't." tears were running down his face.

"That's ok Toby. I got a terrible fright because I thought you had drowned. Tim'll take you home now and explain to your folks." That didn't seem to make him feel any better. Never the less it had to be done.

"Come on Toby, better to get it over with."

When Tim came back he went to talk to Dylan. "Do you know how dangerous what you did today was?"

"Yes. I'm sorry. Is Mom still mad?"

"Not so much mad as upset. She loves you so much that she can't stand the thought of losing you. Neither can I. That's why we make rules, to keep you safe. And to keep your friends safe. How would we all feel if anything had happened to Toby?"

"Bad?"

"Really bad."

"Are you gonna spank me?"

"Not this time, because Mom already spanked you and I think she did a pretty thorough job didn't she?"

Dylan nodded.

"Oh well, you deserved every bit. And Dylan?

"Yes Dad?"

"You're not to go anywhere near that pool tomorrow when the others are here or for the next three weeks ok ?"

Dylan nodded. "Can I still play with Toby?"

"That would be up to Toby's folks. He's in trouble too. I think you better go down and say sorry to your Mom and then have a bath ok?"

"OK"

Abby was in the kitchen starting dinner when she heard footsteps behind her. As she turned, Dylan burst into tears and threw him self at her, wrapping his arms around her waist. "I'm so sorry Mom. Are you still mad?"  
"No, of course not Dylan. I'm not happy that you put your life in danger like that but I forgive you. I told you before there's nothing that you can do that I won't forgive you for. I love you and Dad loves you and Sarah loves you and everyone else in our family loves you. But if you ever go inside that fence without an adult again, you're really gonna get it. Do ya hear?" Dylan nodded his head enthusiastically.

"I won't ever do it again . I promise."

Later that night while Tim held Abby in his arms he said. "You know what Abs?"

"Yeh Timmy?"

"I think getting those dogs was the smartest thing you've ever done.

"You know what Timmy?"

"Yeh Abs?'

"I think THAT'S the nicest thing you've ever said to me."

"To think that if Rex hadn't kicked up all that racket and Lulu hadn't of been smart enough to come right up to the door...........God knows Abs what could've happened."

"Timmy?"

"Yeh Abs?"

"I think it was fate!"

"You know what Abs?"

"Yeh Timmy?"

"I think you're right."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

TBC


	17. Chapter 17

Thankyou so much for the reviews everyone. I really appreciate your kind words. :)

Chapter 17

As the McGee family were having breakfast, Sarah was stressing badly about the day ahead. This was the day that Zac was finally coming to meet everyone.

"What are you gonna say to him Tim?"

"That would be between me and him Sar." Tim said calmly.

"It wasn't his fault you know I told you that."

"I know."

"What about Gibbs?"

"What ABOUT Gibbs?"

"What do you think he'll say to him?"

"How would I know that Sar?"

"You're impossible! And you're NO HELP AT ALL!"

"Hun, why don't you go up and get ready before this turns really ugly?"Abby said trying to keep the peace. Sarah flounced off upstairs with a final glare at Tim, who went on eating his cereal. Abby gave him a pointed look.

"What?" he said grinning. "What did I do?"

"You shouldn't play with her like that McGee! You know how sensitive she is about Zac."

"Who said I was playing?"

"Oh come on..........you're not really gonna give that poor kid a hard time. Are you?"

"No I'm just gonna talk to him. Be friendly. Now if the conversation just happens to come up during the course of the day then I may just mention that it's not a great idea to be here feeling up my nearly naked sister when nobody's home. Even if he receives a gilt edged invitation to do so by Sarah."

"Timmy you'll embarrass her."

"I'll make sure she's not around at the time."

"Tim if you scare him off she'll be broken hearted."

"If he scares off that easily he's not worthy of her."

"What about Gibbs and Tony."

"Your guess is as good as mine."

Abby threw the rest of her coffee in the sink and got out a can of Redbull.

"Don't you think it's a bit early for that Abs?"

"Nope. I think I'm gonna need it. Just be grateful I'm not putting Vodka in it!" Tim chuckled.

At eleven o'clock Gibbs arrived with Ducky and Jimmy not far behind him. Tony and Ziva arrived a half an hour after that. Everyone was in the backyard except for Sarah who was pretending to do something in the kitchen while she nervously kept an eye on the front door.

Outside Abby and Ziva were sitting on the patio talking while petting the dogs that were lapping up all the attention. Gibbs was playing basketball with Dylan. Tim, Tony and Jimmy were listening to one of Ducky's stories.

"Nice day for a swim today Dyl." Gibbs said.

"Not allowed." Dylan said sadly looking over at the new chain and lock on the gate.

"You in trouble?"

"Yeh."

"What did you do?"

Dylan didn't want to say it.

"Must have been pretty bad if you don't want to talk about it."

"Toby and me snuck outside and played in the pool by ourselves."

"Yep that'd get you in pretty big trouble. Bet your Dad was mad huh?"

"Yeh." Dylan said sighing. "He said I can't go in the pool for three weeks."

"Oh well. I guess you're really lucky that you didn't get a spanking."

"My Mom spanked me."

"Your Mom spanked you?" Gibbs said a bit surprised but trying not to show it.

"Yeh, she was crazy mad! She thought that Toby was dead on account of he was on the bottom of the pool."

"He was on the bottom of the pool?!" Tony said now joining them. He could always sniff out a story.

"Mom dived down to the bottom of the pool and dragged Toby out but he was surprised cause he was just getting the rings."

"What rings?!" Tony and Gibbs said together

"The rings that were part of the game. The game was to time each other while the other one swam down to the bottom of the pool to get the rings." he said slowly so they'd understand.

"But you know you have to be a really good swimmer to play that game don't you sport?" Tony said.

"Yeh, but I'm better. But Mom said not better enough to pretend I'm dead on the bottom of the pool."

"So your Mom got mad?"Gibbs said  
"Crazy mad! She started yellin and she spanked me out by the pool in front of Toby and then she told us to get inside and then she spanked me all the way to the house."

"How did your Mom find out you were outside?" Gibbs asked.

" 'Cause the dogs kept barking and Lulu was yapping at the back door trying to make someone come. Can we play now?"

Tony looked at Gibbs and almost laughed but Gibbs glared and shook his went on with the game.

"Oh Abby!" Ziva said scratching Lulu's head as she cuddled her. "I cannot imagine ............."

Tears sprung to Abby's eyes as she spoke about what had happened. "I've never been so terrified in my life. For Dylan, for Toby..........mostly for Toby, when I saw him on the bottom of the pool, I didn't realise it was a game. I thought he was dead. If it wasn't for these guys she said kissing Rex on his enormous head that was resting in her lap......."

"What did you do?"

"Well that wasn't my finest moment so far as a mother. After I pulled Toby up from the bottom of the pool and I realised that it was a game, I lost it. I yelled and jumped up and down like a crazy person and then I spanked Dylan hard all the way into the house in front of Toby."

"GOOD!!! I think I probably would have given Toby a couple of smacks also. Naughty boys."

Just then the back door slid open and Sarah appeared in the doorway holding Zac's hand. Tony looked at Tim and shrugged. "He showed up McGee, you've gotta give him props for that at least."

"Yeh I guess." Tim said walking towards the pair. "Hi Zac. Come on and meet everyone."

"Mr McGee. I'm sorry about..........."

"We'll talk about that later. When we're alone." Tim said steering him over towards Abby and Ziva. "Now you know Abby. This is Ziva, Tony's wife. You met Tony the other day." Zac blushed.

"Hi Mrs McGee, Ziva ." he said nodding his head.

"Please Zac call me Abby or Abs."

"Pleased to meet you Zac." Ziva said., but she could resist a small dig. "My husband told me all about you." Sarah glared. As they moved away Ziva smiled at Sarah's back.

Next Tim steered him over to Ducky and Jimmy. "This is Dr Mallard, we call him Ducky and Jimmy. Ducky and Jimmy this is Zac."

"Hi!" Jimmy said.

"Pleased to meet you my dear boy." Ducky said.

Finally they moved over to where Gibbs and Tony had been playing with Dylan. "I believe that you've met Tony and you know Dylan. This is Jethro Gibbs. Boss this is Zac."

"Pleased to meet you sir."

"Don't call me sir. Call me Gibbs." Gibbs said shaking the hand that was held out to him and staring into his eyes,only a slight hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth.

"Come on Zac let's go up to my room." Sarah said desperately trying to get him out of there.

Looking at all the sets of eyes boring into him Zac answered quickly "I don't think so Sarah."

"Good answer Son." Gibbs said approvingly. "You wanna use that good judgement all the time." Gibbs said staring a hole right through him.

Sarah rolled her eyes at Gibbs and took Zac's hand trying to pull him away. "Your judgement Sarah could definitely do with some work. Along with your attitude."

The look that Zac gave Sarah told her that he couldn't agree more. She tried to fix it. "Gibbs the other day wasn't Zac's fault. I told him that my folks were ok with him being here."

"Like I said, your attitude needs work. Still." Gibbs said. Seeing Tim standing there Gibbs grabbed the ball and started bouncing it with Dylan, letting them know his part of the conversation was over. For now.

"Actually Sarah, I would like to go inside with Zac for a few minutes." When she started to follow them, Tim turned her around and gave her a gentle push. "Just us!"

Sarah crossed her arms and stomped over to Abby and sat down. Ziva rolled her eyes and smiled. "They are only like this because they care you know. You are very lucky to have such a family to watch out for you."

"What would you know!" Sarah said crabbily.

Tony came from nowhere. "Hey McBrat! Watch your mouth. You be rude to my wife again and see what you get and I don't care if your pretty little boyfriend is here or not. Apologise!" Sarah attempted to stare him down. A mistake. Tony pulled her out of the chair with one arm and smacked her bottom several times hard with the other. "Now apologise!"

"I'm sorry Ziva." Sarah said quietly. Now extremely embarrassed and hoping that Tim had taken Zac far enough into the house that he didn't see.

"That is ok. I know that you are worried." She smiled at Tony who gave Sarah a warning glare and went back to the basketball game.

Gibbs just grinned.

Sarah looked at Abby "How could you just sit there and let him do that to me?"

"Sorry Hun, you deserved it." Abby said and went on talking to Ziva. She tried to include Sarah in the conversation but eventually she just got up and went to stand by the door. Tony and Gibbs looked at each other and shook their heads.

Inside Tim took Zac into the kitchen to talk while he got salad stuff out of the fridge for lunch. "Look Zac, I like you and I think you're good for Sarah but what happened here the other day? Not happening ever again. You are not welcome here unless someone else is here and if Sarah tells you different she's lying. Ok?"

"Fair enough Sir."

"You don't have to call me Sir. Call me Tim. Sarah tells me you have a sister. How old is she?"

"She's nine Si....I mean Tim."

"Ok, so this is easy. Anything you're gonna do with my sister? Imagine some boy doing with your sister in eight years time. If you don't think it'll be ok with you then, it definitely won't be ok with me now. Are we clear?"

"Crystal clear....Tim and thank you for giving me another chance."

"Oh and Zac? My sister's a handful, you might want to tell her not to lie to you again."

"I intend to Tim."

Outside Ducky doing the best he could to try and destract Sarah from what was going on inside. She felt like just asking him to be quiet so she could hear, but a look from Abby told her she wouldn't be wise to hurt Ducky's feelings. It wasn't long before Tim and Zac emerged with the food for lunch. Sarah breathed a sigh of relief.

Grabbing their places at the table Sarah tried to sit next to Zac, but before he she could get to him Tony and Gibbs had him firmly placed on a chair between them. She was not happy. Gibbs and Tony could see that this was actually a really nice polite kid, but they couldn't resist playing with him for a bit longer. "So Zac, what are your intentions towards Sarah?" Tony said.  
"Um .....I........ would like to take her on some dates and......"

"So this is just a casual thing?" Tony asked. Gibbs just stared.

"Well we're just getting to know each other."

"So what I saw the other day? That's what you do to get to know someone?" Tony asked straight faced.

"Well I mean we know each other but..."

"Well you certainly know PARTS of each other better." Tony said. Gibbs continued to stare right through him.

"Come on you two! Will you leave him alone!?" Sarah said standing up with her hands on her hips. Abby was grinning, as was Ziva. Jimmy was out right giggling and Ducky was just getting on with his lunch.

She looked at Tim. "Aren't you gonna say something?"

He winked at Zac discretely and said "Sit down Sarah." Looking over at Tony he said "Keep it G rated please. Little pitchers."

"Is that it?! Come on Zac we're going. We don't have to listen to anymore of this."

"Yes we do Sarah. We did the wrong thing and this is the payback. Sit down and eat your lunch." he said continuing with his own.

She stood there staring at him. She still hadn't taken her hands off her hips. Tony was so interested in this turn of events that he forgot all about his teasing.

Zac looked back up at Sarah who still hadn't moved and said "Go ahead and sit down Sarah..... Now." Sarah didn't really know what to do, if she stormed off she was obviously going by herself. If she sat down then she was doing as she was told and she didn't want to look foolish. Zac raised an eyebrow at her and she didn't know why but she sat.

Abby and Tim exchanged meaningful glances but went on eating. Ducky was still eating obliviously. Tony was doing everything but the happy dance. Ziva was trying to get him to tone it down with a glare. Dylan was looking from one face to another wondering what the big deal was. Jimmy was now choking on his food, unable to control his giggles and eat at the same time and Gibbs? He just nodded his head and grinned.

Later that afternoon while Abby and Tim, Tony and Ziva were playing a game of cards, Gibbs came out from inside. Dylan had been showing him how to play a video game. "I'm gonna make you an offer." They all looked up. "You two have had a helluva couple of weeks and we're off next weekend. So how about the four of you go away for the weekend and I'll come and stay here and watch the kids and the dogs?"

None of them knew what to say.

Tim spoke first."That's really very generous of you Boss but I don't think we could impose on you......I mean ....."

"I think what he's trying to say Boss is that his kids are brats and they might be too much for you."

"That what you're trying to say McGee? You don't think I can handle the kids?"

"No no! Boss of course not."

"Good then it's settled."

"Thank you Gibbs." Ziva said smiling.

Abby jumped up and threw her self at him hugging him tightly. "Thankyou thankyou ! I love you Gibbs. I mean it's not that I want to leave the kids, I love the kids. They won't think we're deserting them Timmy will they?"

"Of course not Abs."

"Good because a whole weekend with just us..."

"And us!" Tony said.

"Of course! Where will we go?"Abby said.

"Where WILL we go?" Tim asked.

"New York!" both the girls said at once.

"Done!" the boys agreed.

TBC


	18. Chapter 18

Thank you all for the lovely reviews. I do appreciate them and I know I always say it but it helps to write when you get feedback so please keep the reviews coming :)

Chapter 18

The next week went over without any hitches to speak of. Sarah was now allowed to talk on the phone again and spent most night s in her room on the phone to Zac. Dylan had been a perfect angel again which had Tim wondering if it was the calm before the storm. He just hoped the storm didn't come while they were away. He had an uneasy feeling but the opportunity to have his wife to himself for a couple of days was too good an offer to pass up.

Both couples were getting very excited about their weekend trip. They were staying at the Crown Plaza and would be flying out that afternoon. They had packed last night, all they had to do was go home and collect their stuff before they went to the airport.

Abby was upstairs in the bullpen giving Gibbs last minute instructions on the kids. "Now. Dylan has to be picked up from day care by six o'clock."

"No problem Abs." he said patiently. "Our team has been rostered off so it won't be a problem."

"Now I've left food in the fridge......."

"Abby, I have this. If I can feed myself, I can feed myself and two kids."

"I know Gibbs but I need to tell you that Sarah has a date with Zac. They're going to the movies. She should be home by midnight."

"No problem Abs, I'll get his cell number and I'll make sure he knows to have her home by midnight."

"Now, Rex sleeps outside and Lulu has taken to sleeping outside with him.....Their food.........."

"Abby I know how to put dog food in a bowl....And before you say anything else I know how to check their water bowls and I won't forget to put Dylan to bed. I HAVE THIS! GO HOME AND GET READY!"

Tony and Ziva were wondered if Gibbs really knew what he was taking on. He sure wasn't gonna say anything. He was going to New York with his Ziva and his best friends and no kids. He loved the McBrats, but it would be nice to spend some adult time with their friends.

A little while before, Sarah had received a call from some friends from school. They had wanted her to go to a party that night. She told them that she didn't think she'd be able to because she had a date. She didn't mention that she was also being babysat by Gibbs the bossy boots. As Sarah and Gibbs waved the couples off she was wishing that she could see her friends.

The more Sarah thought about going to the party the more she wanted to go. She thought that she'd try Zac to see if he would go.

"Hey Zac." She said as he answered his phone. "What you doin?"

"Nothin much. I've been missing you. Looking forward to seeing you tonight. Do you miss me?"

"Of course." Sarah said blushing. "I was thinking, instead of the movies, there's a party my friends are having. Do you think we could go there instead? They'd love to meet you."

"I don't know. I told Tim that we were going to the movies, do you think he'd mind?"

"I don't think so and anyway they've gone already. Gibbs is in charge."

"Is he there?"

"Yeh."

"Well if you ask him and he says it's ok, I guess its ok with me too. Go and ask him now while I hang on."

Sarah went over to Gibbs desk. "Gibbs, Zac and I have a date tonight and we were gonna go to the movies but there's a party on. Would you mind if we went there in stead?"

Gibbs narrowed his eyes. "What kind of party? Would there be alcohol? Are the parents there?"

"A normal one, no and yes."

"That Zac on the phone?"

"Yes."

He motioned with his hands for her to pass him the phone. "Zac, if you go to this party you won't take your eyes off her?"

"No Sir."

"No drinking , no smoking and you have her home by twelve."

"Yes sir!"

"Fine, but I'm trusting you." he hung up. Sarah threw her arms around Gibbs neck.

"Thank you, thank you, and thank you. See Gibbs thought, you just have to lay down the law and they know they can't get away with anything. Famous last words.

By the time Gibbs and Sarah had picked up Dylan and gone home, Abby and Tim were long gone. There were three notes on the table. Gibbs put the pizza boxes he just bought down and passed out the notes. The first one Gibbs handed to Dylan. It said

"Hi Dyl, we hope you have fun this weekend with Gibbs. Please be good and we'll bring you back a surprise. We love you lots.

Love Mom and Dad xoxoxox"

The next one Gibbs handed to Sarah. It said

"Hi Hun, we hope you have a good time tonight with Zac. Please try to be good and don't give Gibbs a hard time and we'll bring you back a surprise. We love you lots.

Love Abs and Tim xoxoxox"

The third note Gibbs opened himself. He smiled. We know you know how to do everything but just in case, there are instructions and phone numbers on the fridge. We will definitely bring you a big surprise. We love you lots.

Love Abs and Tim xoxoxox"

Gibbs went over to the fridge and looked at the long list of instructions. Smiling he went to the cabinet and got out some plates and glasses. "Let's eat." he said to the kids. They grabbed drinks out of the fridge and sat down in the kitchen and started eating. Sarah nibbled on a slice of pizza and then went up to her room to get ready.

When they arrived at the airport, they got there luggage and got in a cab and headed for their hotel. When they checked in and got their keys they realised that they had rooms that were fairly close to each other on the same floor. They entered the elevator together and made plans to meet in a couple of hours, for dinner in the hotel restaurant. Both couples were eager to settle in and spend some alone time.

Walking into the room Abby couldn't believe what she saw. Tim had arranged for black rose petals to be sprinkled on the bed. There was a basket of chocolates, a platter of chocolate dipped strawberries and Champagne waiting in an ice bucket. "Oh Timmy! It's beautiful." She said kissing him tenderly. "I love you so much."

"I love you too Abs." he said smiling. As his hands began to wander he trailed gentle kisses down her neck pausing in his favourite spot on her spider tattoo. He retraced the same path back up to her lips kissing her passionately. "I think........he said.............as she continued kissing him while removing items of clothing, that we ...........should take advantage of that enormous bath."

"Oooh Timmy I like the way you think....."Abby said grabbing the champagne bottle and heading for the bathroom.

"Just a sec" Tim said as he hunted through his luggage. He found the missing items and unwrapped them holding them up for her to see.

"Ooohh Timmy. That's so sweet." Abby said with tears in her eyes. Tim had packed the engraved silver goblets that they had used at their wedding. Grabbing his hand, she pulled him towards the bathroom and shut the door.

Sarah answered the door at the first knock. Zac kissed her and then came inside to say hello to Gibbs. After promising to have her home on time they left. The party hadn't really taken off yet and was still fairly quiet, but Zac thought that Sarah's friends seemed nice enough. They nibbled on chips and drank coke and danced a little but Sarah was a bit disappointed that some of her friends hadn't even arrived yet. By eleven thirty though, the party was really just getting started. When Sarah told her friend Katie that she would have to leave soon she was pissed. But we never get to see you anymore and you just got here. What's the worst that could happen if you get home a little late. "Not happening Sarah, Gibbs'll kill me!" Zac said. Katie looked at him and then Sarah.

"Sarah wanna come to the bathroom with me?"

"Ok." Sarah said.

When they got far enough away from Zac that he couldn't hear, Katie said. "Your boyfriends nice but he's really straight, isn't he?"

"He just ........it's important to him to do the right thing. I don't mind." Sarah said.

"Come on! There must be part of that rebel in there that still wants to have fun."

"There's no way he will keep me out past curfew."

"What if I had a solution?" Katie said cheekily.

"What kind of solution?"

"Well what if after Zac takes you home on time for curfew, you pretend to go to bed and then I come and pick you up and we come back to the party?"

"I don't know." Sarah said worriedly.

"Oh well. I guess you've just become the good little girl that doesn't wanna upset her folks."

"Is that so bad? To not wanna be in rouble all the time?"

"You've changed Sarah. It's like you think your too good for us now."

"No it's not that."

"Well then prove that you haven't changed that much and come."

"Ok."

Back at home, Gibbs had just come down from Dylan's room for about the fifth time. It seemed that he was having trouble sleeping. Gibbs heard the key in the door and checked his watch. True to his word, Zac had delivered Sarah home at eleven fifty five. Five minutes early even. He liked this boy. This seemed like a decent kid. As he drove off Sarah said her goodnights and went upstairs to her room.

After the last time she wasn't sure if she should lock her door or just leave it shut but not locked. She doubted that Gibbs would actually come into her room anyway. So she decided on the latter. She climbed out of the window and down the trellis and ran not stopping until she got to Katie's car.

Gibbs checked in on Dylan. Still not asleep. "Come on Bud, close your eyes." He said.

"I can't help it I'm trying."

"Ok." Gibbs said. Thinking that he may as well kiss Sarah goodnight and see if she needed anything, he knocked on her door. No answer. Opening the door a crack he was surprised to find that she wasn't there. Maybe she's gone downstairs for a drink, he thought. Taking the stairs two at a time, he called her name repeatedly and when she didn't answer he realised that he had been had. He was gonna kill her after he killed that boyfriend of hers. Gibbs couldn't believe he had been taken in by the kid. He really thought that he seemed genuine. His gut seldomly let him down like shouldn't be too hard to find them. What was he gonna do about Dylan?

Ducky picked up his cell on the second ring. "Dr Mallard speaking." He said.

"Duck, I need a favour. Sarah's run off again and I need to go find her, but I need someone to sit with Dyl....."  
"I'm so sorry Jethro, under normal circumstances I would be only too happy to help but mother's not well."

"Not to worry Duck I'll think of someone."

"No need Jethro. I know the perfect person."

About fifteen minutes later Gibbs answered the door to Jimmy. "Thanks Palmer." He said grabbing his coat. " Hopefully I won't be that long. Dylan's in bed but he's having trouble sleeping. He shouldn't give you any trouble."

"No problem. We'll be fine." he said going up the stairs to check on Dylan.

In the car Gibbs punched Zac's cell number into his own cell. It rang quite a few times before a very sleepy Zac answered. "Hello?"

"Zac?"

"yes. Who's this."

"Gibbs! And you better have a really good explanation for why Sarah isn't in her bed."

"But...........I..........Sarah's not in her bed?" Zac replied obviously worried.

"No son she's not." Gibbs said feeling bad now for jumping to conclusions. Obviously Zac was oblivious as he was.

"Little brat! She must have gone back to the party. One of the girls wanted her to stay but I said we had to go home. She didn't even argue with me. Look can you pick me up? I'll throw some clothes on and tell my Mom where I'm going and be out the front in about five minutes" He quickly rattled off the address.

Gibbs was already out the front of the house by the time Zac came outside. " The party's about ten blocks up that way." He said. "I can't believe she would do this. After all the trouble she got in last time."

"Yeh well, Sarah's a very bright girl but sometimes she's a bit lacking in the common sense department. Either that or she has a death wish, because when we do find her I'm gonna kill her."

"I have a few words I'd like to say to her as well." Zac said seriously.

"Get in line son. Tim's not gonna be too happy when he gets back either."

Back at home, far from being asleep Dylan was quite excited to see Jimmy. Out of all 'the family' Jimmy was probably the closest to his age apart from Sarah."What's up Bud? Can't sleep?" Jimmy said."Anything I can do to help? Read you a story or something?"

Dylan thought for a minute. "My Mom always let's me have ice cream if I can't sleep."

Jimmy laughed. "I don't think that would be true."

"Yeh it's a scientific fact. Something to do with the dairy or somethin."

"You sure."

"Scout's honour." Dylan said. He wasn't a scout anyway so that wouldn't really count for a lie. It wasn't that he even wanted the ice cream, he just wanted to see if Jimmy would let him have it.

""Ok, I guess it would be alright. Come on. But after that you better go right to sleep. It's really late."

"I promise." Dylan said jumping out of bed.

Downstairs, Jimmy opened the freezer. There's two types which one do you want?"

"Some of each, please." Dylan said getting toppings out of the pantry.

"I don't know if you should have all that other stuff this time of night."

"Ohh come on Jimmy. You can't have ice cream without the toppings" Dylan said looking as though he might cry.

"Ok just a little bit." he said putting a bowl and spoon on the table.

"Dylan get up and got whipped cream out of the fridge."

Jimmy thought that Dylan would just eat a little and he'd get him back in bed. Hopefully before Gibbs got back.

Dylan squirted the cream on top of his scoops of ice cream and generously sprinkled the mess with sprinkles, choc chips nuts and threw a couple of cherries on top for good measure. He was never going to be able to have a feast like this after midnight again so he may as well make it a good one.

Ten minutes later, much to Jimmy's surprise, Dylan had nearly downed the whole thing. But when he went very pale Jimmy started to panic.

"Um Dyl, I think we need to get you into bed now." He said.

"I feel sick." Dylan said and started to cry.

"Oh God! Gibbs is gonna kill me." Jimmy said getting a bucket from the laundry room and carrying it and Dylan upstairs to his room.

When Gibbs and Zac arrived at the party, Zac looked at Gibbs. "Do you want me to go in and get her?"

"Do you think she'll come with you?"

"Yeh, she'll come."

"Ok then." Gibbs said smiling. "He really did like this kid."

Once inside it didn't take Zac long to find Sarah, beer in one hand and cigarette in the other.

"Zac!" she said suddenly feeling really guilty.

He took the cigarette out of her mouth and threw it in the beer cup she was holding and put them both down on the nearest table. "We're going home." He said grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the door. She really wanted to go with him but when Katie looked at her with that look she stopped and tried to pull her hand away.

"I'm not ready to leave yet."

"I think you are, now either you can walk out or I can carry you out, but we're leaving now."

Sarah put her hands on her hips.

"Fine." Zac said. He picked her up and threw her over his shoulder and marched towards the door. She was kicking him and punching him in the back, to try and get him to put her down but he just kept walking. Although when one particularly hard punch landed he matched it with a hard slap to her bottom. "I'd settle down if I was you. Gibbs is in the car and he ain't happy." That was all it took. She burst into tears and he put her down pulling her into a hug before he opened the back door of the car and helped her in, climbing in beside her, he put his arms around her and comforted her all the way home to his house. Gibbs didn't say a word.

When they reached the house Gibbs the car up the driveway and turned it off. "Get to your room and go to sleep, we'll talk tomorrow. I'm way too angry to deal with you right now." As he shut the front door though Sarah came bolting back down the stairs.

"Dylan's sick." She said. "Jimmy said he's been vomiting for about twenty minutes."

Gibbs took the stairs two at a time and was standing beside Dylan's bed looking at a very sheepish looking Jimmy.

"What happened Dyl?"

"What do you think made you sick?"

"Jimmy let me eat an ice cream sundae."

Gibbs looked at Jimmy with murder in his eyes. You fed a child an ice cream sundae after midnight?" Gibbs said incredulously.

"Well......I.......I didn't think it was a good idea but.......Dylan said that his Mom lets him have ice cream when he can't sleep."

Gibbs looked at Dylan who looked about ready to throw up again. "Palmer you have some medical training don't you?"

"Yes Gibbs."

"Why would you take the word of a ten year old. Does ice cream make you sleep Palmer?"

"No."

"Then why.............you know what? Never mind!" he said slapping him on the back of the head. "But don't think your going home. You can sleep on the floor and make sure he's alright. Sarah was still standing in the doorway. "Get to bed, before I do something you'll regret. " Looking at Jimmy he said " I have to go and feed the dogs. Will you be alright?"

"Of course...and I'm sorry, I shouldn't have listened."

"No you shouldn't have and Dylan," he said giving him a pointed look, "shouldn't have lied."

As Gibbs walked into the kitchen he shook his head. No wonder the kid was sick, strewn all over the table were the remains of the sundae. Toppings of every description, whipped cream and cherries. It was enough to make him feel sick just cleaning up the mess. See? Just what I said, he thought to himself. It's always the smart ones that have no common sense.

In New York, Abby and Tim were laying in each others arms after making love. "Timmy do you think the kids are gonna be ok?"

"They'll be fine."

"I hope they don't act up for Gibbs."

"Abby it's Gibbs. They wouldn't dare."

TBC


	19. Chapter 19

I forgot yesterday because I had trouble posting the chapter and I had to cut and paste etc. Anyway a big thankyou to GibbsFan for giving me the idea of Abby and Tim and Ziva and Tony going way for the weekend. :)

Thank you to all those who reviewed. The nice ones anyway. I really appreciate that you take the time. It means a lot to me and makes it much easier to write.

Chapter 19

Gibbs and Jimmy had a really rough night with Dylan. Gibbs felt quite sorry for Jimmy actually, but God help him when Abby finds out what happened. Still Dylan wasn't without fault. Gibbs wasn't planning on punishing him much though. Vomiting solidly every half an hour or so all night had been punishment enough. He probably wouldn't want to eat ice cream ever again.

Sarah was the one in big trouble. That little brat made his blood boil sometimes. She was an intelligent girl who just kept making such silly mistakes. It was beyond him how she could be so defiant. People were scared of him. Grown men were scared of him. Gibbs decided on another cup of coffee before he had to deal with her. Just then Jimmy wandered into the kitchen. "Dylan ok?" Gibbs said pouring Jimmy a coffee.

"Yeh. Sarah's checking on him. He's asleep. I think the vomiting is finally finished now. I'm really sorry. I should've just told him no. I knew Abby wouldn't have given him ice cream that late I just thought I could avoid a confrontation I guess. I really didn't think he'd get that sick. "

"I know that. Just remember next time who's in charge."

"Ah yeh....next time."Jimmy said. "Well if you don't need me any more I'm gonna head off."

"Nah. We should be fine now. And Jimmy? Thankyou. You didn't have to come and help. I shouldn't have been so short with you last night. Kids get a bit of getting used to sometimes."

"Ah...thanks. I'll see you later." Jimmy left feeling like he was walking on air!Wow!!! He thought, the closest thing to an apology he'd ever heard from Gibbs and a thankyou to follow. He would have loved Tony to have heard that.

In New York Tim and Abby , Tony and Ziva were having breakfast at a Restaurant called 'The Pink Teacup.' They specialised in food from the south. Abby was thoroughly thrilled to be enjoying some southern 'soul food.' They had apple fritters, grits, three egg omelette and biscuits.

"Oh my God!" Tony said. "I really really didn't wanna come here. But who would have thought you'd get such great food at a place called 'The Pink Teacup.'

Abby laughed. "You really have to widen your horizon's Tony." Tim smiled, happy to see Abby so pleased with a little bit of home.

"You needn't look so proud of yourself McSuckup! We all know what you're after."

"Really Tony?!" Abby said with a grin. "And what makes you think he has to suck up to get that?"

"That's right Dinozzo, when I do something nice for my wife, I have no ulterior motive. Don't need one." Tim joked, pleased with himself.

"Neither do I." Tony said indignantly.

"Good my love."Ziva said with a smirk. "Because next it is your turn to choose something to do that I would en joy."

"What a great idea!" Abby said clapping her hands. "We can all take turns choosing something for our spouses to see if we really know what the others like!"

Everyone was in agreement. "Ok Tony your up next. What would Ziva really like to see, do, or eat?" Tim said.

"Ok I have the perfect thing. We could go on a ferry ride and have a picnic on Liberty Island and do a tour of the Statue of Liberty." Tony said smiling at Ziva.

"Oh Tony. That is perfect!" Ziva said entusiastically.

"Thankyou!" Tony said tilting his head cockily.  
"I have to admit Tony, that is a great idea." Tim said. They finished their breakfast and went about organising their morning.

Back at home Gibbs had finished his coffee and decided to go and talk to Sarah. He watched her from Dylan's doorway as she held his hand while he slept. Just looking at her face he could see the regret. She obviously was feeling very guilty about what happened. He wasn't angry at her any more. What she did was silly and dangerous but she never could have guessed that Dylan would ask for ice cream and get sick. That wasn't really her fault. Still, he would be doing Abby and Tim a disservice if he didn't punish her. They were trusting him to take care of things and that included their 'McBrats' as Tony called them. Actually Tony had pretty well nailed it on the head.

"Sarah?" he said just loud enough for her to hear. He didn't want to wake Dylan.

Sarah took a deep breath and walked out shutting the door gently behind her. "I guess I'm in trouble huh?"

"Yep!"

What she said next surprised him. "Let's just get it over with. Ok? What I did was really wrong and stupid. Please, just tell me you're not going to tell Tim and Abby until they get back? They don't deserve to have their weekend ruined because I messed up again."

"Sarah, that's probably the most mature thing you've ever said to me. I'm impressed." Gibbs said. "Still gonna spank your ass but I'm impressed with your attitude. Just tell me, why?"

"I don't know. Katie kept saying that I'd changed and I wasn't a rebel anymore, she made me feel like I was too weak to stand up to you and Abby and Tim, even Zac."

"And what do you think now?"

Sarah thought for a moment. "That I was too weak to stand up to HER. Now I'm in trouble again, my nephew got sick because instead of looking after him you were out looking for me. I've probably lost my boyfriend who I lied to and I risked ruining a special weekend for the two people who are always there for me. So I'd really appreciate it if you just gave me a spanking and be done with it, because I can't feel any worse than I do already."

Gibbs stood there and looked at her. Where the hell did he go with all that. Like he does all the time, he decided to go with his gut. "Ok Sarah." he said "Come here. He tucked her under his arm and smacked her bottom about six times and then stood her up. "Consider yourself spanked. Now go and get some sleep. You're forgiven."

"But........"

"Look Sarah. The whole purpose of a spanking is to teach you a lesson. I think that you've already learned your lesson. You don't need another one this time. But Sarah? Don't test me. I don't give out many get out of jail free cards." He grinned. Anyway you haven't faced that boyfriend of yours yet. I don't think he's too happy with you. He'll be here after lunch. Don't sleep too long or I might just give him some pointers on controlling wayward brats."

"You wouldn't dare."

"Nah! Of course not." He said walking off with a smile.

Back in New York, The McGees and the Dinozzos were on the ferry on the way to Liberty Island. The boys were talking and Abby and Ziva were discussing quietly what they were each going to choose. "I know what I'm gonna choose for Timmy." Abby said. "I wanna go to ' Birdland.' It's a traditional jazz club. Timmy wil love it. Whatta ya think for Tony?"

"I think that we should have Pizza for dinner at 'Little Italy." Ziva said.

"Wow!!! Great idea. Tony will love that."

"We miss something?" Tony asked.  
"We've mad our decisions for tonight." Abby said.

"I have decided Tony that we will go for pizza in 'Little Italy. You like?"

"Perfect!" he said pulling her back against him and kissing her neck.

"And I have chosen a late night Jazz Club called 'Birdland.' Whadda ya think?"

'I love it. The perfect way to end the day."

"Can I make another suggestion?"

"Go for it."Tony said.

"After we've finished here, before we go for dinner, how about we go to Madame Tussauds Wax Works?"

"Oh yeh!" Tony said. The rest agreed that you couldn't go to New York without visiting Madame Tussauds.

"What about you honey?" Tony said. Anything else you wanna do?"

"There is one thing. I would like to go on a carriage ride through Central park."

"Oh perfect!" Abby said.

"What about tomorrow?" Tim said.

"SHOPPING!!!" the girls both said at once.

By one o'clock Dylan had woken up like nothing had happened. Well not nothing. Dylan suspected he might be in trouble but at least he didn't feel sick any more. "Hey Gibbs." He said sheepishly.

"Well hey there Dyl. How you feelin?"

"Much better."

"That's good." Gibbs said.

"Am I in trouble?"

"Do you think you should be in trouble?"

Dylan shrugged.

"Do you think you did something wrong?" Gibbs prompted.

"I shouldn't have lied."

"No. You shouldn't have lied. What happens when your Mom and Dad are here if you lie?"

"I get a spanking." He said putting his head down.

"Well I guess you better get a spanking then. Come on." Dylan walked slowly over to Gibbs and stood in front of him. Gibbs pulled him over his knee and landed about six swats to his bottom and then let him up. "You ever lie to me again Dylan and you won't sit for a week. You understand?"

Dylan nodded and smiled. He knew he'd been let off easily.

Just then there was a knock on the door. Gibbs went and opened it knowing that it would be Zac. "Zac." Gibbs said offering his hand.

"Gibbs." Zac said shaking Gibbs out stretched hand. "Is Sarah here?"

"She's sleeping at the moment but you can wait if you like. Come on through.'

Zac sat down but didn't say anything. He was obviously upset.

"Still upset about last night?"

"Um..... yeh...I guess I am. I feel kinda stupid, like I was so boring that Sarah had to come home to ditch me so she could sneak out again. I thought she liked me."

"I see."

"You think she doesn't like me?"

"I didn't say that."

"You think she does like me?"

"I didn't say that either. Zac I think you need to talk to Sarah. I can't make assumptions. But, I do know she knows she made some bad choices last night. She let that Katie girl get the better of her. Talk to her son, I think you might get a pleasant surprise."

"Ok."

"I'll just go and get her."

"Thankyou Sir. I'd appreciate that."

"Don't call me Sir. I'm Gibbs."

A few minutes later Sarah came down and sat next to Zac. As she looked at him tears shone in her eyes. "I'm so sorry Zac. It turned out to be such a mess. I never should have gone back to the party. I......."

"You ditched me and went back there, like you couldn't wait to get rid of me."

"That's not what I was trying to do."

"Then what were you trying to do?"

"I........I ......Katie said I'd changed and I guess I just wanted to prove her wrong. But I never meant to hurt you or for Dylan to get sick or any of it. Do you think you can forgive me?"

"Of course I forgive you. But I don't like you lying to me. It has to stop. I mean it."

"I won't do it again. I promise."

"To me or anyone else. Ok?"

"Yep." Sarah said happily. "You wanna watch a movie?"

That'd be nice.

TBC


	20. Chapter 20

Thankyou all for the lovely reviews. Thankyou too to all the anonomous reviewers. I can't thank you in person but I do appreciate your reviews. I really hope this chapter makes sense I messed it up so many times while trying to post it that in the end I decided to just poest it. If ther is any big mistakes please let me know and I'll fix them.

Chapter 20

After they had watched their movie, Sarah and Zac decided to go for a swim. Gibbs fished around in his pocket and came up with the key Tim had given him for the new chain. "Make sure you lock it again and bring me the key when you've finished ok?"

"Yeh, ok." Sarah said.

Dylan folded his arms and slumped into a chair.

"What's the problem?" Gibbs asked although he already knew.

"I'm hot!" Dylan answered.

"You're not that hot. The air-conditioning is on." Gibbs said.

"It's not the same."

"Oh well. You shouldn't have gone in the pool without an adult. That's why you're not allowed in the pool now. Your Dad's orders, not mine."

"My Dad's not here."

"I don't think you wanna go there."

"I don't think you wanna go there." Dylan mocked.

"What did you say?"

"What did you say?"

Gibbs tried to grab Dylan but he ducked out of his reach. "You better get over here NOW!" Gibbs said loudly.

"You better get over here now!" Dylan copied again.

"Stop it NOW!" Gibbs made a dash for Dylan and nearly caught him but he was too fast. As he ran past the patio door he slid it open quickly, letting the dogs in. Gibbs stood perfectly still, 'little brat' he thought. He watched as Rex leapt around the room jumping on the couches and the coffee table leaving a trail of drool in his wake.

Following him faithfully was Lulu, although she couldn't jump on anything too high herself, her eyes always followed Rex with undisguised love and admiration. Gibbs put his fingers in his mouth and whistled. Loudly. The dogs sat and stared at him. "OUT!" he said, pointing to the door. They went out. Their tails between their legs. Gibbs folded his arms and stared at Dylan. He started to move and Gibbs stare intensified. After a standoff that lasted a minute or so, Gibbs could see the doubt flicker in Dylan's eyes. "Sit!" he said pointing to a chair. When Dylan looked like he was hesitating, Gibbs narrowed his eyes and his voice and banged his hand down on the table for effect. "NOW!" Dylan sat. Gibbs took a seat opposite him and waited.

After about five minutes Gibbs spoke, forcing himself to remember that he was talking to a child. "That, was very naughty Dylan. Is that the way you carry on when your Mom and Dad are here?"

"Sometimes." Dylan said still not totally out of his funk.

"You can't always get your own way. You're not going swimming and now for throwing a tantrum you're not playing your video games or watching television. Go up to your room." Gibbs said sending him up the stairs with a very hard smack on his behind.

Dylan headed for the stairs glaring at Gibbs as he went. Luckily Gibbs didn't notice as he was already searching for the bits and pieces he needed to clean up the mess the dogs had made.

Gibbs had something that he thought would be fun planned for this afternoon; he thought he would take the kids to mini golf. After cleaning up, he went up the stairs to talk to Dylan. As he entered his room he found Dylan laying on his bed. Gibbs sat next to him. "You ok now?"

"Yep. I'm sorry. I wanted to go swimming. It's not fair that Sarah gets to go swimming when I can't."

"Sorry Dyl but that's not how it works. Sarah isn't banned from the pool. Anyway, I have something else in mind. I thought we'd see if Sarah and Zac want to go mini golfing with us."

"Really? I've never been mini golfing."

"Well there's a first time for everything. I'll go and talk to Sarah and you get ready. Ok ?"

Gibbs went downstairs and outside to talk to Sarah and Zac. "Nice swim?" he said to both the kids who were laying on towels on the side of the pool.

"Yeh great." they both said.

"Listen, I'm gonna take Dylan to mini golf. I can't leave the two of you here by yourselves so how about you two come as well? We can grab some dinner when we're finished."

Sarah and Zac looked at each other and smiled at Gibbs. "Sounds like fun. Thanks." Zac said.

"I'll just get changed." Sarah said

"You can use the downstairs shower Zac if you need to." Gibbs said. "Everyone be ready in fifteen minutes." Gibbs and Dylan both smiled as they heard Sarah grumbling about not having enough time to be ready.

When the arrived at the mini golf course everyone was happy. Even Gibbs was smiling. He paid for four people and they collected their clubs and balls and chose the course they were going to take. Gibbs let Dylan choose even though he thought the easiest would have been the best but what did it really matter, it was just a game.

The first couple of holes didn't go too badly but by the third hole things were sliding downhill. It appears that both Gibbs and Sarah were able to get the ball in the hole pretty easily if not the first go then definitely the second. Zac was having a bit more trouble although Gibbs suspected that had something to do with the way Dylan was reacting to not being able to get the ball in the hole very wa trying to make Dylan feel wasn't really working.

Dylan was quite frankly being a brat. He didn't want to move to the other easier course, he didn't want anyone to help him, he just wanted to get the ball in the hole first go. "It's not fair." He said stomping his foot. Gibbs tapped him on the bottom in warning. "Well it isn't. Sarah got a better club than me. And her balls rounder. That's why she's better." He said poking out his tongue.

"I said stop it right now." Gibbs said giving him 'the look'. Dylan sat down and folded his arms. "Get up Dylan. Now." He said looking at the other people who were starting to build up now waiting for their turn.

"Dylan I'll swap clubs with you if you like." Sarah said so sweetly that it almost made Gibbs head spin around. He mouthed 'thankyou'. He gave Sarah club to Dylan and gave Dylan's to Sarah.

"What about the ball." Taking Dylan's ball and handing it to Sarah he said in a sterner voice "Right, now let's move." And they moved on to the second last hole.

Gibbs had his turn. He missed first go but got it on the second go. Sarah had her go. She got a hole in one. Dylan glared at her. Zac had his go and missed. He missed a second time. He managed to get it on the third go. Dylan stepped up and everyone (including the crowd that had built up waiting for their go) held their breath. Dylan missed. He pouted. Come on Dylan they encouraged. You can do it. He tried again and missed. Before anyone could stop him Dylan had sent the club flying through the air. It went right over to the green that they had just come from the turn before and just missed a large man in a Hawaiian shirt who glared at Dylan and then at Gibbs.

Zac and Sarah both winced. They weren't sure if Dylan could see what was coming but they sure could. Gibbs threw Dylan over his shoulder Spanking him hard a few times on the butt. "Take the clubs back and meet us in the car." He said over his shoulder as he stormed towards the exit. The crowd clapped. Gibbs wondered if they hadn't already been standing would they have given him a standing ovation.

Gibbs set Dylan down to open the car door. He tried to get in. "Not just yet" Gibbs said. Putting his foot up he tipped Dylan over his knee and spanked him hard a few times before he spoke. "Don't you ever act that way in public again. Another half a dozen hard spanks. Dylan sobbed. Don't you ever throw anything like that again. More hard spanks. You could have seriously injured that man. Another four smacks on each sit spot and he was finished. He cuddled him to his chest. When Dyl had calmed down he kissed the top of his head. "You owe Sarah an apology." Dylan just nodded.

When Sarah and Zac returned to the car Dylan hugged Sarah. "I'm sorry I was mean Sarah." He said.

"That ok Dyl, it takes a while to learn to be a good sport."

"Chinese alright for dinner?" Gibbs said. As everyone was ok with that he drove towards the restaurant they normally got the takeout from. The meal was pleasant with no more outbursts from anyone. It wasn't long after dinner that they drove home. Everyone was exhausted after the previous night so Zac decided to go home and let the rest of them get some sleep. He agreed to come back the following night and help out with the late supper they would have when the McGee's and Dinozzo's arrived home.

It was the next day in New York. The couples had really enjoyed their day the day before. The picnic had gone well and Tony had had his picture taken with nearly every exhibit at the wax works. They all loved the Pizza and the atmosphere in Little Italy and the Jazz club had been relaxing after a tiring day. But the carriage ride through Central Park had been so romantic and the perfect end to the day.

That morning the boys didn't really have much of an interest in shopping, ( girlie shopping anyway) so the girls decided to go off on their own leaving the boys to their own devices. Tim gave a few last minute warnings to Abby about over using her credit card and buying stuff they didn't need. She agreed as she always does and went off with serious shopping in mind.

Tony and Tim visited the M&M shop and Times square eating pretzels and hotdogs as they went. They went to the Apple store where there was everything technical that you could (or Tim could) dream of. Not really much of Tony's cup of tea except for the ipods and such. The most popular shop with both the the boys had been F.A.O. Schwarz where they had bought a few things for Dylan and Tony had Tim take pictures of him on the giant piano on the floor. Eventually they ended up in a sports bar, filling in time until they met up with their wives.

Abby and Ziva had shopped til they dropped. They went to Tiffany's and Bloomingdales, Abby spent a small fortune at a shop called Gothic Renaissance where she even bought some things for Tim that had Ziva raising her eyebrows. And that was just to mention a few of the shops they had visited. Although they had agreed on a limit for spending, Abby really wasn't paying that much attention to the price of things.

"Abby do you think that you need all of these things?" Ziva said.

"Absolutely!" Abby said as though Ziva had lost her mind.

"You know that Tim said ......"

"I know what Timmy said but he always says that stuff, it's kinda like a habit. He doesn't really mean it."

"But Abby, what is the limit on your card?"

"Look Ziva, this'll be the last shop. I promise." Abby said. "It's alright for you. Tony didn't tell you not to spend too much."

"That is because he knows I would not spend too much." Abby poked her tongue out. But picking up all the bags she was starting to get a little worried. There did seem to be an awful lot of stuff here.

"Do you think you might have room in your luggage for me to hide some of this stuff until we get home? Actually you know what? Why don't I just buy another bag? That'll solve the problem." Abby said.

"Ok. But we better go and get it because we are running out of time." Ziva said.

They went into the nearest luggage store and Abby chose a suitcase with a hard glossy cover with a zebra like design on it. "That'll be $127.50. Abby handed over her card. "There seems to be a problem Mam."

"Don't call me Mam. What's the problem?"

"Your credit card has been declined." Abby grabbed some cash out of her wallet and paid the clerk, taking back her card. She looked at Ziva sheepishly who rolled her eyes.

"I told you Abby!" Abby punched her in the arm.

Once they were outside the shop Ziva said. "How much did you spend Abby?"

"Oh I don't know. I thought it was only a few hundred dollars but I wasn't really paying attention to exactly how much things cost. That Goth shop was pretty expensive but they had such cool stuff."

"And all of it so necessary."Ziva joked.

"Well it WAS. Most of it anyway."

"Yes, well I would just like to see the look on Tony and Gibb's faces if Tim was to wear that studded collar and the cross bones T shirt and the leather pants."

"Well they're not for work Zi-va."

"My mistake. He should wear them to the PTA?"

"Being a smart ass doesn't suit you Ziva."

"Anyway, Timmy's not gonna be mad when I wear some of the fun stuff I bought."

"Perhaps. But if I were you, I would hide some of the equipment that goes with some of those outfits or Mcgee will use them on your ass and not for the pleasurable purpose that you have in mind."

"ZIVA!!!!........... Actually you might have something there. Maybe I SHOULD put some of that stuff in your suitcase just for a while."

"Not a good idea. You do know to whom I am married ?"

"Yeh. Bad idea. I'll just fit them in somehow." Look at the time. We better get going to meet the guys. We still have to pack.

TBC


	21. Chapter 21

Thankyou again to GIBBSFAN who gave me the idea of the conversation between Sarah and Dylan. Thanks again to everyone including of course the anonomous people review. I always appreciate anyone who takes the time to review :)

Chapter 21

It was Sunday morning in the McGee household and Sarah slipped into Dylan's room, he was just waking up. She hadn't had a chance to talk to him the previous night because Gibbs had sent him straight to bed. He didn't dare make another appearance that night.

"Hey Dyl, how you doin?"

"Ok I guess. Mom and Dad are coming back today, aren't they?"

"They sure are."

"Do you think they're gonna be mad?"

"About which thing?"

"All of them. Whatever you did on Friday night and then what I did yesterday."

"Well I don't think they're gonna be happy, but I don't think they'll spank you again. Gibbs probably really gave it to you yesterday when we were taking back the clubs at mini golf huh?"

"He sure did. My ass is still sore."

"Dyl?"

"Yeh?"

"Unless you wanna repeat performance, you might wanna watch your mouth."

"Oh ok. Gibbs ever spank you?"

Sarah grinned. "Quite a few times actually. Hurts doesn't it?"

Dylan nodded. "More'n Dad, well most of the time. Except when he spanked me with the ruler."

"Ouch! When did he do that?"

"When Toby and me nearly stole the councillor's wallet."

"Yeh, well I guess that would do it. Did it hurt really bad?"

"Ah huh!"

"Well I guess you won't be stealing anything again then will you?"

"Never."

"So why did Gibbs spank YOU so many times?"

"That's a really good question Dyl but I don't really know the answer. I guess he had no choice. He told me what would happen and I just kept doing dumb stuff."

"Why?"

"Honestly, I don't know. Sometimes because I guess I thought it was worth the risk. Sometimes I just didn't think. I don't know why I mess up."

"Na, me either."

"Let's go and see if Gibbs has breakfast ready."

When they got to the kitchen Gibbs was just putting pancakes and bacon on the table. "Hungry everyone?" he said with a smile.

"Yep. I sure am." Dylan said grabbing a pancake.

"What about you Sarah?"

"I'm starving!" she said helping herself.

Helping himself to a plate, Gibbs asked "So kids, what are we gonna do today?"

"Swimming?" Dylan asked with a twinkle in his eye.

Gibbs just gave him a stern glare.

"Just jokin!" he answered.

"I was thinking we could take the dogs to the park for a run. Maybe take a picnic." Gibbs said.

"Yay! That'd be cool!" Dylan said.

"Ok." Sarah said. Gibbs looked at her.

"Dylan if your finished why don't you go upstairs and get ready."

"Ok." he said bouncing up the stairs.

When he'd gone Gibbs sat down again at the table opposite Sarah. "Spill." He said. "What's on your mind?"

"Just something Dylan said."  
"About?"

"Tim's gonna be really mad about Friday night isn't he?"

"I don't think he'll be happy. But I have to tell him, you know that?"

"Yeh."

"But I'll also have to tell him you were really good for the rest of the weekend. Helpful even. Might get you time off for good behaviour." He said with a teasing smile.

Sarah grinned back and kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks Gibbs."

He smiled. "Go on. Go and get ready. And Sarah?"

"Yeh Gibbs?"

"Please don't put one of those silly bows on the top of Lulu's head if she's coming to the park with me."

"Ohh. But the tutu just won't look the same without the bow." She said with a teasing grin.

Gibbs just rolled his eyes and started packing up the breakfast things.

An hour later they were ready to go. Rex was smiling expectantly at the back door with his new black studded collar that Abby had bought him. Lulu was standing next to him also excited to be going out. Although she wasn't wearing the bow, she was sporting a particularly fetching pink collar that was encrusted with the best cheap diamantes that money could buy. Sarah appeared carrying the matching lead. Gibbs unhooked Rex's big long lead from near the back door.

Next Dylan appeared in the doorway. "Gibbs can I take whatever I want to the park?"

"Sure thing. As long as it's not an electronic game thingy that needs electricity."

Dylan giggled and pulled Toby out from behind the doorway. "He doesn't use electricity."

"Cute Dyl." Gibbs said sarcastically. "Do your folks know your here?" he said to Toby.

"Ah huh. They said I could come and play if it was ok with you. I'm not grounded anymore."

"Well we're going to the park, so we'll stop at your house on the way and see if you can come. Ok?"

"Let's go." He said striding out the back gate followed by a gaggle of dogs and kids carrying various sporting equipment. They stopped off at Toby's house where Gibbs introduced himself to Toby's Mom and asked permission to take him to the park.

She was still smiling at the odd little group as they reached the bottom of the street and turned the corner. She wasn't sure if it was the assortment of kids and animals, especially the massive dog and it's miniature friend with the sparkly collar, the teenager dressed up to the nines to go to the park or the very striking silver haired man that was getting pulled along by the leash of the giant dog. Or the fact that said man was carrying a picnic basket decorated with sculls and crossbones and matching blanket. Oh how she would have loved to seen what he had packed in that basket.

When they got to the park Gibbs laid out the blanket and set the basket down. Sarah was happy to sit there texting Zac and mind the stuff while Gibbs let the dogs run and played ball with the boys. By the time they had played for about an hour they all flopped onto the blanket exhausted. "I'm starving." Dylan said.

"Me too." Toby agreed.

"Ok let's eat." Gibbs said passing out wipes for the kids to wash their hands. It wasn't perfect but hopefully it would clean off some of the dirt. Opening the basket, he passed each of the boys a sandwich. He passed one to Sarah and grabbed one for himself. He passed juice boxes to the boys and Sarah and got out a thermos of coffee for himself. Suddenly remembering the dogs he got out the small bowl he had brought and poured some bottled water into it and passed it over for them to share. Like a gentleman Rex moved over to let his lady friend have drink before he devoured what was left. Gibbs passed them each some dog treats and then went back to his own lunch.

After lunch Gibbs told the boys they could go to the playground a little way down the park so long as they didn't go near the pond. He couldn't go any closer him self as they had the dogs but he could see where they were. They took a ball with them and off they went.

Gibbs was reading a book and looking up every time he turned the page to see that the boys were still there. The system seemed to be working fine until there was a rustle in the bushes and suddenly Rex took off after whatever had made the noise. His faithful companion wasn't far behind him. "DAMN!" Gibbs said. "Sarah watch the boys while I find the dogs will you."

"Huh?Yeh sure." She said barely listening. Gibbs shook his head. "Sarah! Did you hear me? Put down the cell phone and watch the boys."

"Yeh Ok!" she said "You don't have to shout." Gibbs took off into the bushes after the actually did as she was told and put down her cell phone to watch the boys.

Just as well because she saw the boys move from where they were playing and run down towards the pond. "Damn!" she said to herself. She got up and went towards them, shouting as she got nearer. "Dylan! Toby! Come away from there." And then splash! Toby had fallen in the water. She ran.

In New York, Abby and Ziva and Tony and Tim were making their way back to the hotel from different directions. Luckily, Abby and Ziva got there first and went their respective rooms to pack. Abby lugged all her new purchases through and threw them on the bed. Fossicking around in one of the drawers she managed to come up with a pair of scissors. She opened the new case and started systematically cutting off tags and putting the items into the new bag. She shoved all the price tags into one plastic bag to dispose of later. It was hard but she resisted the urge to pour over each new item as she would have liked to. She picked up two of the items lovingly and then wrapped them in a plastic bag and hid them down in the pocket of the bag. In the right circumstances they could really put a smile on her face but maybe they are best to be kept hidden for a while. Packing the rest of her things and most of Tim's she closed up the bags and sighed. This had been a wonderful trip but she'd be glad to see the kids and Gibbs. She had missed them. She looked up at the sound of the door opening to find Tim. "Hey Ab's." he said kissing her. "Did you have fun shopping?"

"I sure did. Did you?"

"Yeh, I did. I didn't buy much, I got a couple of small things for Dyl from the toy some M&M's for everyone else. I couldn't come up with anything else for Gibbs besides the baseball cap with I love New York on it. I think the perfect thing that we can get him we can get on the way home from the airport."  
"What's that?" A case of Bourbon."

"Oh Yeh!!!! Great idea. He'll probably need it after a whole weekend with kids."

They both giggled. Tim pulled Abby into a hug and kissed her passionately. "I've had a really great time. It's been so nice to spend time together hasn't it?"  
"Looking up into his face she smiled. It sure has Timmy. I love you you know."

"I love you too Abs."

"Anyway I better go and pack the rest of my stuff."

"Already done."Abby said with a smile.

"Ok then. Thankyou. I'll just go and squeeze these things into one of the bags."

"Um ... I'll do it." Abby said.

"No it's ok Abs, I can do it." He said "Hey what's this? You buy a new bag?"

"Um, Yeh, I thought we needed more room." She called out.

"Good idea!" he called out.

He opened the new bag and not paying much attention to the contents, he shoved the gifts he'd bought Dylan down the pocket of the bag along with the M&M's and closed it up. Coming out wheeling one of the suitcases he didn't look like he'd found anything. Abby breathed a sigh of relief. As Tim wheeled the suitcases out one by one out into the hall, Abby picked up the bag of receipts and shoved them into her backpack. She couldn't risk leaving them in the room in case the hotel decided to send them to them or something. She'd just have to dump them later.

Back at the park Sarah pulled Toby out of the water and with her hands on her hips demanded "What the hell happened? Didn't Gibbs tell you two to stay away from the pond?"

"Yeh, but the ball went in the water!" Dylan said.

Sarah could see Gibbs storming across the park with the two dogs now back on their leads. He was glaring at some people who were laughing at him now carrying the tiny dog with sparkly collar and lead. While he was being pulled along by a giant dog with a studded collar. Poor Rex could sense the kids were in danger and was tearing across the park to get to them, Gibbs in tow.

"Ok! Now you're in for it." She said. Toby and Dylan looked at each other and cringed.

"What happened? Toby are you alright?"Gibbs asked concerned.

He nodded. "I'm fine just a bit wet."

Well that's an understatement Gibbs thought. "Why were you two anywhere near the water?" he said crossly.

"The ball went in. We were just trying to get it." Dylan said as if that explained everything.

"Did I say 'Don't go near the pond!' or 'don't go near the pond unless the ball goes in?'"

Silence.

"WELL!!!"

"You said don't go near the pond." Both boys said at once.

"Right!" he said turning them around and smacking their bottoms hard a few times each. We have to pack up the picnic stuff and then we'll take Toby home and you can spend the afternoon in your room Dylan." Thank God Tim and Abby'll be back tonight he thought.

After taking Toby home and explaining to his Mom what had happened (even the bit about whacking him a few times) Gibbs went back to Tim and Abby's and sent Dylan upstairs with another hard smack. "And stay out of trouble!" he said.

He took the dogs out side and refilled their water and took off their leads and collars. "If you two had a room I'd send you there too." he said scolding them. Rex whined and wandered over to sit in the sun. Lulu glared at Gibbs and followed and was soon asleep with her friend in the sun.

Going inside he got himself out a beer and sat down for a couple of minutes peace. He closed his eyes and thought of his quiet basement and his his bottle of bourbon. Oh well he thought. It'll all still be there later. He had plenty of time to be alone. Even with all the hoohaa it'd been fun to be here with the kids. There was certainly life in this house. Tony was right. This place is never boring.

TBC


	22. Chapter 22

Thank you for the reviews. Ther aren't many yet but I'll thank you in advance as I know I'm posting this close to the last chapter. As always I love your revies They make it much easier for me to write. :)

Chapter 22

When Abby and Tim and Ziva and Tony came through the airport terminal they saw Jimmy who Gibbs had sent to collect them. After picking up their bags they headed to the car. Tim sat in the front and the other three in the back. "So Jimmy, do you know how Gibbs went with the kids?"

"Um...ah......fine I guess." Jimmy said sheepishly. The three in the back looked at each other.

"So which one of them was it?" Tim asked.

"I don't really know if I sh.......if it's my place....."

"Palmer! Spill it! What the hell happened?" Tim said not wanting to sound mean but getting concerned. Abby slapped him in the back of the head.

"Tim what ever's happened it's not Jimmy's fault."she said.

"Which day do you want to know about or which kid?" he said cringing.

Ducky had insisted on knowing exactly what had happened and Gibbs first told him about Sarah and then Dylan's vomiting all night and then had spent the last hour entertaining them with all the rest of Dylan's antics. All in all he'd had a pretty hectic weekend of it by the sound of things.

Tim rubbed his hand over his face. "Ok Jimmy, maybe you better start at the beginning." In the back seat Tony was positively beaming. He'd had a great and I mean really great weekend and he didn't think it could get any better. Now they were going back to the house of fun where Gibbs had obviously been tortured by the McBrats all weekend. "Oh yeh!" He said to Ziva quietly. "It doesn't get any better than this."

"Ok. Well apparently Sarah had a date with Zac to go to the movies. They asked if it was ok to go to a party instead. Gibbs said yes as long as they were home on time."

"They didn't get home on time Jimmy?" Abby asked.

"No they did. Then Zac went home and Sarah went to bed."

"Not seeing a problem yet Jimmy." Abby said.

"Shh. Abs I think he's getting to it." Tim said looking at Jimmy who nodded.

"Well then Gibbs must have gone to kiss her good night because Dylan wasn't asleep yet. Oh yeh I forgot. Dylan hadn't gone to sleep still at eleven thirty. So anyway when he went to say goodnight, she wasn't there."

"Where was she?" Ziva asked getting into the story now.

"Gone back to the party. Gibbs thought it was Zac's fault but when he called his cell, he was home in bed. So they had to look for her but Ducky's mother was sick so he couldn't watch Dyl, so he, Ducky I mean asked me to help Gibbs out."

Tim shut his eyes. "So they found her?"

"Yeh. But in the mean time, and I'm really sorry for this Abby, I didn't know it would have this reaction. Abby started wringing her hands and then covered her face. "Ok go on."she said.

"Dyl told me that when he can't sleep you give him ice cream, with toppings and cream....." A chorus came from the back and beside him not to mention a head slap from Abby.

"You idiot Palmer."Tony said.

"You did not give a child ice cream after midnight."Ziva said

"You made my baby sick?!"Abby said.

"Are you kidding me?"Tim said.

"I know in retrospect it wasn't that smart. Dylan vomited all night every twenty minutes or so. I really am sorry. I shouldn't have given in to him."

"Is he ok now?" Abby said.

"He's fine. Apart from a sore butt."

"Gibbs spanked my baby for being sick?" Abby said furiously.

"No. Of course not." Jimmy said as if she was crazy.

"Ok ,so what happened with Sarah?" Tim said.

"Zac got her out of the party and they got home and Gibbs sent her to bed. Gibbs made me sit with Dylan all night because he said I made him sick, but I would have done it anyway. The next morning he thanked me for helping out and said he shouldn't have yelled at me." He looked in the rear view mirror at Tony as he said this and smiled at his reaction.

"Then what happened." Abby asked. Well I think the kids slept late or something and then Zac came over and they talked and then watched a movie. When Gibbs said that Sarah and Zac could go swimming, Dyl got a bit put out." He smiled.

Tim looked back at Abby and she covered her face again. "What did he do?"

He did the whole copying thing." he giggled. "And then when Gibbs tried to catch him he let the dogs in. Rex jumped all over everything and made a mess. "Anyway so Gibbs smacked Dyl and sent him to his room."

"Ohh so that's how he got a sore bottom?"

"Not exactly." Jimmy said cringing. "There's more."

"Oh God! Gibbs is gonna kill us Abs." She nodded her head.

"Go ahead Jimmy, it's just gettin good." Tony said cockily. Abby and Tim both glared at him. "What? It is!"

"So then after Gibbs felt better he decided to take all the kids to mini golf. Didn't go so well. Dylan got mad because he couldn't get the ball in the hole and eventually after throwing one tantrum after another....................."

"What?!" they all yelled.

"He threw his club and it almost hit a really big man in a Hawaiian shirt."

"Um Tim?"

"Yeh Abs?"

"We better go and get that bourbon for Gibbs now before we go home."

"Yep! He's gonna need it."

"Make it the really good stuff Tim."Tony said.

"The best." Ziva said.

"Anyway he gave him a few smacks and then he took him out to the car and really spanked him."

"Ok fair enough too." Tim said.

"AND that should have been enough."

"MORE?" Tim said in a high pitched voice. He was rubbing his chest now wondering if he was too young to have a heart attack.

"Not much more. This morning, Toby came over and he took him and Dylan and Sarah and the dogs to the park for a picnic. Everything went really well until he told the boys they could go to the playground if they stayed away from the pond. He was watching them but the dogs ran away chasing something and while he was getting them back Sarah was watching them, but the ball went in the pond and well the short story is that Toby fell in.

Gibbs was already grumpy because when he was running over to them, Rex was dragging him and he had to pick up Lulu. People were laughing at him because Lulu had a pink collar with sparkly things on ended up smacking both Dylan and Toby for going near the pond in the first place when he told them not to."

"Oh God!!! Are the neighboours gonna sue us? That's the second time in two weekends that we've almost drowned their son. And now Gibbs SMACKED him?"

"It's ok Tim." Jimmy assured him. "He went and saw them and told him what he did and why he did it and they agreed with him."

"And that's it?"Tim said hopefully.

"That's it." He said

"Sounds like a normal weekend at your house if you ask me?" Tony said laughing.

They picked up the case of Bourbon and it wasn't long before they were home. As they got through the door, both of the kids flew at them. In that moment none of it mattered. All the tears and tantrums and naughtiness. To come home and have kids be so pleased to see you because you're the centre of their world makes it all worth while.

After the kids had settled down Abby went and enveloped Gibbs in a hug. "I can never thank you enough for this Gibbs. Jimmy told us what they did to you, especially Dylan. You went above and beyond..."

Gibbs smiled. "Abby they were fine. I had fun. Don't ever tell them this, But there's nothing I hate more than a boring kid. Your kids are NOT boring." He said kissing her on the cheek.

Tim had already thanked Gibbs as soon as he could but they hadn't done presents yet as they were going to eat first. Tim and Abby would talk to the kids tomorrow but Gibbs had assured him that he had taken care of everything and that in his opinion they didn't need to punish anybody again. True to his word he had also told Tim about how good Sarah had been since Saturday morning and how she'd tried to help him. Maybe there was light at the end of the tunnel Tim thought.

After dinner everyone was sitting around the living room as they were about to do presents. Tim was in the kitchen getting drinks and he motioned to Dylan to come to him. He whispered in his ear. "If you go up to Mom's new bag, the one with the stripes? Open it up and there's some presents in the inside pocket." Dylan's eyes shone.

"For me?"

"Some of them." Tim said kissing his head. Dylan flew up the stairs.

Abby, Tony and Ziva had already brought their gifts into the living room and were sorting through them when Dylan came down the stairs. The whole room went quiet. Except for Tony, who burst out laughing and fell off the arm of the chair where he had been perched.

"Dad, why is there only one bat and it's got some kind of fur stuck to the back of it? And there's no ball." Yanking something out of the back of his pants his face brightened "How come we need a riding crop he said holding it up? Are we gettin a horse?"

Jimmy promptly spat his beer all over himself and started choking. Ziva hid her face behind Jimmy and proceeded to bash him on the back to distract herself. Tim's mouth opened and closed but no words came out. Abby covered her face and tried not to laugh and Gibbs leaned towards her and whispered. "I told you your kids weren't boring."

Who would have guessed that the day would be saved by Ducky. "Oh thankyou Dylan my boy. You found those items I asked your to parents to pick up for me in New York. Mother lost her other paddle, they use them with fur in the nursing home so the old people don't get hurt."

"Whadda you need the crop for Duck?" Gibbs said dryly.

"That Jethro, would be telling. Tim would you hang on to these for me until I'm going home."

" Oh gladly Ducky. I know exactly what to do with them." Tim said beckoning Abby. "Got a minute sweetie? We need to get Gibbs his gift." He said walking out towards the garage.

Abby gulped.

"Um I think you can manage on your own Timmy. I'm just gonna get our guests some drinks."

"Ill do that Abs." Tony said laughing.

"You're the guest." she said punching him in the arm. Just then they heard a sort of yelp.

"What was that noise."Dylan asked Tony.

"Beats me Dyl, maybe your Mom stubbed her toe."

When they came back in from outside the items were missing and Tim was carrying a case of bourbon which he passed to Gibbs. Gibbs just grinned. "Thankyou." He said.

"No, thank you." Abby and Tim said together.

They all enjoyed the rest of their evening by drinking laughing and looking at photos of their weekend. Tim hooked the camera up to the plasma so they could all see.

When all their guests had gone home and the kids were asleep, Tim took Abby's hand. "When I was looking for the camera earlier I stumbled on another surprise."

"You did?" Abby said excitedly.

"I did." Tim nodded.

"Can you guess what it is?"  
"Nope. Is it jewellery?"

"Nope, not jewellery. Close your eyes and hold out your hands."

She did. "Come on Timmy."

"Open." He said passing her the surprise. Her mouth fell open.

"I can explain." She said as she took the bag of receipts he was passing to her.

"You always can." He said.

"Oh and Abby?"

"Yeh Tim."

"It'd better be good or those surprises you got me are gonna be gettin a real work out."

For the second time that night Abby gulped.

TBC


	23. Chapter 23

Thankyou for the reviews alhtough there are not that many now I'm grateful to those who are still with me, I will wind this up soon. I've just been waiting for the right place to come if that makes any sense. Any way thanks again :) This one is a bit shorter but I thought it should be by itself.

Chapter 23

"Ok! I know it may seem like I spent a little too much money...but...well...how often Timmy do you get to go shopping in New York?"

"Not very often at all Abby if you keep running us into debt. We have a huge mortgage on this place. We have a child now that needs to be put through college. Maybe more someday, who knows?"

"You wanna have more children Timmy?"

"Don't do that Abs." Tim said sternly.  
"Do what?" Abby said innocently.

"Change the subject. We were talking about how much you spent. I believe you said you could explain?"

'Yeh, that's what I was gonna do. Explain. Well I had stuff that I needed to buy, and I had stuff that I wanted to buy and then their was the stuff that was just too good to pass up."

"Ok I'm curious. Go and get all the stuff you bought and we'll look through it."

"What about the stuff you bought?"

"I gave it all out already.I only bought gifts." Tim said.

"I gave it all out already.I only bought gifts."she mocked.

"Very mature Abby.I wonder where Dylan gets it from. Keep it up and it'll get you the same as it gets him." Tim said.

He turned around to get the bag of receipts that Abby had thrown on the sofa. Abby took the opportunity to poke her tongue out while she thought he wasn't looking.

"I saw that." He said smacking her bottom and levelling her with a stare. He took her hand and led her to the table where he emptied the bag full of tags and receipts. He went to get his cell phone out of his jacket so that he could use the calculator. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Abby stuffing some of the receipts into her pocket. "And you better put those back. Are you just looking for a spanking?"

"Well that was the general idea. "she said sulkily.

"I can definitely see a spanking in your very near future but I doubt whether it's the kind you were looking for."

"Let's go through these receipts. Tiffany's. A wallet $195.00.?"

"It was for Sarah."

"Abby you can't see that's too much for a wallet?"

"Not from Tiffany's"

"What in the hell is a 'Lady Bug keyring?"

"It's a key ring with lady bugs on it. It was for Carol. She likes lady bugs."

"I don't care if she is a lady bug breeder Abby, no keyring on this earth is worth $300.00."

"It is if it's from Tiffany's!" she said cockily. Tim narrowed her eyes at her.

"A compass. What compass is worth $275.00 and I swear to God Abby if you say it is if it's from Tiffany's one more time.......well I won't be responsible. Abby, that's $670.00 so far and we haven't even left Tiffanies yet."

"Sorry Timmy. I wasn't really paying attention to the prices."

'Obviously."

"What's all this stuff from Gothic Renaissance? Abby look at this receipt? Did you even look at this?

"Um.........no.......is it a lot?"

"Abby! You spent over $2,500.00 in one store."

Abby started ringing her hands and pacing up and down. "It didn't seem like that much stuff. But McGee! It was a great store and some of the things I bought are really beautiful."

"Men's leather pants Abby? One cross bone T shirt cost $80.00. $80.00 for a shirt I probably won't wear."

"But it goes so well with the leather pants Timmy."

"A men's studded collar? Abby! When are we gonna use all this stuff.?"

"We could have a costume party? Or I know! A Halloween party."

"Very cute Abs."

"I thought so!" she said cheekily her pigtails bobby around.

Tim narrowed his glare and his voice. "You soooo do not want to go the whole smart ass route now. Go and get me your card."

"Not that Tim! It's not working now anyway." She said suddenly clapping her hand over her mouth. What the hell was wrong with her. It was like her mouth honestly had a mind of it's own. She couldn't control it.

"What do you mean it's not working Abby?"

"Um.......well.....when I bought the new bag ..........they kind of declined my card. I had to pay cash."

"They declined your card and you bought the new bag anyway? Even though you knew that you had totally maxed out your card?"

"I needed it TIM!!! How was I gonna fit all this stuff in our bags?"

"You know what? I can't do Abby logic any more tonight. Go and get your credit card. NOW!"

"But once we pay the bill it'll be ok. It's still good McGee! I'm not gonna let you cut up a perfectly good credit card! What if I need something?!"

"Like?!"

"I don't know. How will I know until I need it?"

"Go and get it now."

"No!!!"she said stomping her platform boot on the floor.

"Abby so help me.......I'm trying to be patient here."

"Just Go To HELL McGEE!" she said stomping up the stairs.

Tim sighed and went out to the garage to retrieve the items he hid earlier. That riding crop was probably the best damn thing she bought he thought grumpily.

When Tim got to the bedroom he found that Abby had changed. Now she was playing dirty. She hadn't changed into her pyjamas but one of her new outfits. There she lay on her tummy on the bed wearing a leather thong and matching bra,a new choker and not a lot else. "See something you like Timmy?" she said huskily.

"Oh Abs! Your killing me! Of course I do. Later." He said with regret while wiping his hand over his face. "Get the credit card Abby, last chance."

"UH uh! Abby said sexily taking a gamble. You know what they say. Don't gamble what you can't afford to lose. Tim shook his head and walked towards her slowly. He sat on the bed next to her and ran his hand down the cross on her back. taking a big breath he pulled her across his knee and landed ten smart smacks on her ass. "Now are you gonna get the card?"

"No!" she said. Actually she was quite enjoying herself.

"Your choice." He said. This time he stepped it up landing really hard smacks that left big red handprints all over her behind. "Now?"

"Nope." She said gulping in some breaths.

"Ok." Tim said. Picking up the crop he flicked it smartly across her backside leaving decorative little heart patterns everywhere it went. "Are you ready to get me the card yet Abby?"

"Not even close." she said putting her head in her hands to mask her tears. That vicious thing actually wasn't as much fun as she thought it would be.

Tim picked up the paddle and slammed it down three times on each cheek. "Abby?"

"No."she said in a much smaller voice. Tim shook his head. Throwing the paddle down he went back to his hand, spanking her hard and rhythmically moving all over and eventually down to her thighs. As he landed one more smack on each sit spot he saw her shoulders shaking and stopped. He pulled her up into a hug, kissing the top of her head while she cried.

"I'm sorry Timmy." She said. "I'll get the card. When she'd calmed down she went and got her wallet out of her backpack and handed the card to Tim. He put his hands up and wouldn't take it, passing her the scissors instead.

"Do I have to?" she asked.

"Do you even have to ask?"

Abby shook her head and cut the card in half and threw the pieces in the trash. She looked up at him sadly, tears still in her eyes.

"Come here." He said holding out his arms. She fell into them gratefully burying her head in his shirt. Inhaling his scent was always comforting. "Abs was it worth it? Why didn't you just give me the card?"

"Honestly? I don't know. Why didn't you just take it?"

"Because I wanted you to show me that you knew you'd done the wrong thing. I guess I wanted you to surrender ."

"Surrender? As in submit?"

"Well I don't know if I'd put it like that."

"How would you put it Timmy?"

"I don't think that I have the words Abby to describe it. Are you upset that I spanked you and made you cut up the card?"

"No. I wouldn't be honest if I said I didn't expect it. Do I accept it? Yeh, I guess I do. You're my safety net Timmy. I trust you."

" Anyway, now that we've spent all that money, we may as well have some fun with it." She said dragging out the new pants and shirt and his new collar.

"Come on Abby, it's late." He said.

"Please Timmy?" she said with a pout. Tim smiled and kissed her and took the clothes from her.

"No photos!" he said.

"I'll get my eyeliner." She said happily.

TBC


	24. Chapter 24

Thankyou for all the lovely reviews that I got this morning. You made my day. I really appreciate you taking the time to hit that little button and tell me what you think. :)

Chapter 24

The next morning they dropped Dylan off at day care and took Sarah with them to the office. This would be the last week as next week was the start of school. Both the kids seemed ok with going back to school as Dylan had Toby and Sarah had Zac. They were thanking their lucky stars for Zac and hoping he would continue to be a good influence on Sarah through what would be her last year of school before would be a bit different for Dylan who was obviously starting a new school, but they weren't expecting any problems as having his best friend there would make it easier.

When they arrived at the bullpen Abby got off the elevator with the others to say hello. "Hi Gibbs, Hi Tony ,Hi Ziva." she said going up to Ziva's desk.

" They called their greetings back and Ziva lifted her eyebrows with the unasked question about the credit card."

Abby pulled a face and nodded.

"New sign language Abs?" Gibbs asked.

"No Gibbs."

"All of you get back to work."

"Getting back to work now, Oh Great One." Abby said saluting. She kissed Tim and headed down to her lab.

"So McSpankalot. Enjoy the rest of your evening, did you?" Tony asked with a grin.

"That, would be none of your business Tony."

"Oh come on Probie, where's your sense of humour? You must admit it was pretty funny when Dyl.............."

"Do we have to talk about this here?"Sarah said. "One more week and I'll be back at school and you can all talk at length about my brother's sick sex life. Right now I'm trying to erase those scarring images from my mind." She said putting her fingers in her mouth and pretending to gag.

"Will you all just shut up about it?!" Tim said

"That's what I said!" Sarah said indignantly.

Gibbs went from one desk to another, slapping all four heads. "ENOUGH!!!"

"What did I do?" Ziva said rubbing the back of her head.

"You were smiling at them. And you're married to him." he said pointing to Tony.

"Now all of you do some work!"

Down in Abby's lab, she was doing something on her computer and jumped when Ziva walked in. "Geez Ziva, you scared me!"

"Why what are you doing?"

"Nothin much." She said reducing the window as Ziva came behind her.

"What are you doing Abby?" Ziva said disapprovingly. "Was that a credit card site? Did Tim take your card?"

"He didn't TAKE it Ziva! He made me cut it up in front of him AND he spanked me HARD! Just for shopping. Since when is shopping a crime?"

"Shopping is not a crime Abby but if you ruin your credit rating......"

"Rating shmating! I'm not ruining anything. Tim's already paid the bill on line last night and he made me cut up my card BEFORE knowing that he was gonna pay the bill anyway. What was the point of that?"

"I think his point Abby is to make sure that you do not accumulate any more debt."

"But there's no debt there because he PAID THE BILL!"

"But Abby, Tim must have had to take the money from your savings to pay that bill. It would leave a hole in your bank account no?"

"Yeh but Ziva, that'll soon be back in there. We both get paid good salaries."

"If you say so. I do not think that Tim would see it that way."

Abby just stared at her for a second and then went on speaking. "Tim doesn't get it either...... So I thought I would just send an email telling them that I damaged the card and they would send me a new one." She said happily.

"You are playing with fire Abby." Ziva warned. Any way, I better get up stairs before Gibbs misses me.

"Already have!" he said landing a smack on the back of her head.

"I am going." She said heading towards the elevator, rubbing her head as she went.

"What ya got for me Abs?" he asked smacking her bottom.

"Ouch! Hey Gibbs what was that for?"  
"Distracting doing whatever it was that you were doing before I came in."

"I wasn't.......... I haven't got anything for you because we don't have a case. You knew that Gibbs." She said with a grin. So why are you really here?"

"Tim take your credit card?"

"WOW! You really are psychic! But not exactly, he made me cut it up."

Gibbs chuckled. "Go overboard with the shopping?"

"A little bit."

"Was it worth it?"

"Now that I think about it.........Not so much."

"Well thankyou for the compass. It was a nice thought." He said kissing her cheek.

"Abby?"

"Yeh Gibbs?"

"Whatever your about to do? Give it some thought first."

"Will do!" she said saluting. Gibbs smirked and got into the elevator.

Gibbs is sooo right. I really need to think this through. I can't have the card sent to home or I run the risk of Tim finding it first. I better have it sent to here. No, that won't work, I know! I'll have them send it to Carol's place and I can pick it up from there. Brilliant. Thank goodness for Gibbs.

Upstairs the team were just leaving on a call. Sarah asked Tim if it was ok to have lunch with Zac at the mall. "Yeh sure. Just tell Abby where you're gonna be and don't be late back. Ok?"  
"Yep! Thanks Tim." She said happily gathering her stuff.

Walking in to the bullpen, Sarah walked up behind Abby and hugged her from behind. "Hey Abs!" she said.

"Oh hi Hun. That was a nice surprise, what was that for?"

"No reason. I just felt like it." Sarah said brightly."Tim said I can go to lunch with Zac if I tell you where I'm going ok?"

"Just going to the mall?"

"Yeh. You want anything brought back besides the obvious?"

"No it's ok. Thanks Sar." She said

Abby had applied on line for her credit card replacement and was waiting for them to call her back to check the new mailing details. In truth she was getting a bit worried. It was taking forever. It wasn't that it was so urgent that she got the new card, it was just that she wanted to get the call over with while she was still here by herself. She didn't want Tim to over hear and she didn't know who else she could trust. Well that wasn't true. She knew she could trust Ziva. That was a given. Tony, she wasn't too sure about. If Gibbs heard her he'd probably tan her ass first and then tell Tim. That was to be avoided at all costs. She picked up her cell and stared at it, willing it to ring. Nothing. A big, fat, silent nothing.

After about half an hour the team were back. Tim and Tony came into the lab carrying evidence boxes. "Thanks boys, I'll just sign those chain of evidence forms and you can get back to whatever it was you need to do."

"Everything alright Abs?" Tim said passing her a caf-pow.

"Of course Timmy. What could be wrong?" she said a little quickly. "Oh thanks for the caf-pow and the evidence. Yay evidence! I'll just get right on to that. Better move it along boys. Don't wanna keep Gibbs waiting. No sirree. You know how Gibbs hates to be kept waiting."

Tony and Tim looked at each other and Tony laughed. Here we go again. He thought.

"What are you hiding?" Tim asked getting closer to Abby.

"Nothing. What makes you think that I'm hiding something?"

"Oh I don't know. The fact that your talking at a hundred miles an hour. And your obviously trying to get rid of us, when you're usually begging us to stay longer."

Abby tried hard to look Tim in the eye. "I think Timmy that your...... just......imagining things." She said kissing him in between each word.

"OH. Ok." He said sitting down. "Excellent. Because Gibbs said for me to stay down here and help you." He said with a smug smile.

"That's just excellent then. Isn't it." She said slowly. Just then her cell phone rang and Tony made a dive for it tossing it to Tim. Abby punched him hard in the arm. Tim answered the cell.

"Abby McGee's phone Abby's husband speaking. Well Abby's a bit indisposed at the moment, you can talk to me. Oh is that right. What address do you have on record for us? That's where we live and what was the new address? Oh no that won't be necessary........."

Abby started to back out of the lab. Tony grabbed her by the waist and hoisted her back in. he wanted to listen to the rest of the conversation. "Tony! Lemme go!"

"Shh Abs. Sounds like you're in enough trouble. Running is not gonna help."

"Look there's no need to cancel the cards. Nothing has been stolen. My wife over spent on the card and I made her cut hers up. She's just tried to TRICK you." He said glaring at Abby "She's tried to get you to send her a new card to her friends address. No that won't be necessary. At this moment she doesn't need a new card. Thankyou. Sorry for messing you around."

"Timmy I can explain!" she said trying to get away from Tim's advancing form.

"No need Abigail, the bank's just filled me in. Apparently you told them that your card was damaged beyond repair and you needed a new one."

"All of that's true Timmy. My card was damaged beyond repair."

"BECAUSE YOU CUT IT IN HALF!!!"

"You told me to!"

"Because I don't want you to have it."

"But you paid the bill so the account's good again, I just don't have a card."

Tony felt like he was watching a tennis match. His head was turning from one person to the other and back again. He couldn't stop smiling. It was like front row seats at Arthur Ash Stadium. The game continued.........

"Stop playing games Abby!"

"I'm not playing games McGee!"

"You are! If you really thought it would be ok to get your card back, why go to all the trouble of having it sent to Carol's? Why not just let them send it to our house?"

"Got a lot of work to do Tim. Getting on to that evidence right now!"

"That's just great, wait 'til you're losing an argument and then change the subject!" Tim said accusingly. SLAP!

"Get! Back! TO! WORK!" Gibbs said moving around to Abby who was smirking and slapping her ass. "BOTH of you! He then slapped Tony's head.

"What was that for Boss?"

"Why are you still here." Gibbs said to Tony in his most exasperated voice. "I don't know what the hell is going on here but you can sort it here AFTER WORK! The kids don't need to hear all that carry on."

"Yes Boss!" "Yes Gibbs" they both said together. Gibbs stormed off to join Tony in the elevator but when he got inside and the doors closed, he smiled. I knew she'd do something. He thought.

"I'm sorry I got you in trouble Timmy." Abby said.

"We'll talk about this later." Tim said quietly.

"I know. I just wanted to say I was sorry."

"Duly noted."

"You're really mad aren't you?"

"Yep! I also have work to do. So do you."

"I know. I've just gotta get something from my office first."

Walking into her office Abby looked to see if Tim was watching her. He wasn't. she descreetly picked up the ruler off her desk and shoved it up under her arm and pulled her lab coat around her. "I'm just going to the bathroom Timmy." She said moving quickly out the door.

"Abby?"

"Yeh Tim?"

"This is an office building there are plenty more rulers than that one."

"Shit!!!" she said.

"And will you watch your mouth!"

TBC


	25. Chapter 25

A big thankyou to everyone who has reviewed and left alerts. I'm sorry to say that this story has now come to an end. I don't know about any of you but I will miss it. I don't think it'll be gone for long though as I think that it might be about time that Abby and Tim welcomed a little girl. tell me what you think. Thanks again :)

Chapter25

Abby was shutting off her babies and turning everything else off and generally putting things away when she heard the elevator doors open.

"Hey Abs." Tim said quietly.

"Hi.......You still mad?"

"I'm not happy that you went behind my back, if that's what you mean."

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry that you did it or sorry that you got caught?"

Remembering her promise not to lie, Abby paused.......... "Honestly, I know this is probably the wrong thing to say but I'm sorry I got caught. I might not even use it but I want it. I want my credit card back. It might sound childish, which is really ironic because you're probably about to put me over your knee and spank me but there it is. I.......want......it ......back!"

"You can't have everything you want Abby."

"I don't want everything, I just....want....that." she said putting her hands on her hips.

"That's not what I said. You're twisting my words and your acting like a spoilt little girl."

"You're treating me like a spoilt little girl."

Tim wanted to fix this. He didn't want to just go in all guns blazing and tan her ass if she felt like she was being wronged. There had to be a way that he could make her understand. Picking up his cell he called Tony. "You guys busy?" he asked. "Could you do me a really big favour? Could you take the kids home and get them settled, Abby and I need to spend a little time on something. Thanks man. I appreciate it. Get some dinner, it's on us."

"Why don't you just give him your credit card?" Abby mumbled under her breath.

Tim ended the call and rounded on Abby. He turned her around and smacked her bottom a few times hard. "Just stop.I can see that your upset and I want to listen to your side but I won't be able to hang on to my patience forever if you keep up the attitude. Got it?"

Abby nodded.

"Right, why don't' we go and get some dinner, somewhere we can talk."

"Are you sure we can afford it?" As soon as the words were out of her mouth she knew she'd made a mistake.

Tim grabbed her hand and towed her through to her office. Perching on the edge of her desk, he turned her over his knee and landed a half a dozen moderately hard smacks to her skirted backside. "Now! Last chance or I'll just get this over with right now and I won't bother to hear you out. Are you going to behave?"

"Yes, I'll be good." She said rubbing her bottom.

"Good. What do you feel like eating?"

"I don't mind. Pasta?"

"Sounds good." He said taking her hand again and this time bringing it to his lips for a light kiss. She smiled. That's a start he thought.

At home, Tony was placing the pizzas that they had picked up on the way home, on the table. Ziva was getting out some plates. Sarah came in to the kitchen to join Ziva. "I'll take some of those." she said, grabbing some of the glasses.

"Thankyou Sarah." She said looking at the young girl. "I have to say Sarah you seem........I don't know"

"Happy?" Sarah added with a smile.

"Yes, I guess that is what it ." Ziva said returning her smile."What has brought about this change? Could it be a certain young man?"

"That could be a big part of it." Sarah said blushing.

"Well it is good to see you happy. And not in trouble all the time."

"Yeh. It kind of feels good not to be in trouble too. Ziva what's wrong with Abby and Tim? Why are they arguing?"

"Do not worry. It is not serious. The fact that they are spending time to talk? It means volumes."

"You mean it speaks volumes."

" You will see. Tomorrow will be back to normal." Ziva said and she pulled Sarah into a one armed hug.

"Yeh, I know what they're like." She said happily.

"Where's those plates girls? There's starving men in here and the pizzas going cold." He shouted winking at Dyl who giggled.

Sitting down at the restaurant, Abby and Tim gave their orders and then there was silence. "Ok spill. What don't you understand?"

"You paid the bill. Why can't I have my credit card back?"

"Abby....."Tim was trying to choose his words carefully so as not to make things worse. "Abby, after you bought all those things for Dyl's room on the card, I told you that we'd have to take it easy for a while didn't I?"

"Yeh and I have. I was careful. But I was on vacation."

"I know you were on vacation but we also had to pay for the room and the meals and the flights and the cabs and the entry into different exhibits. We had a great time and it was worth it. I didn't mind all those things but Abby you were spending money for the sake of it. You said yourself that you weren't even looking at price tags. You had no idea what you spent until the card stopped working."

"Is that so bad once in a while?"

"How much is the limit on your card?"

"$5,000.00" she said.

"I made sure before we left, that the credit cards were paid up so that you COULD shop and so we had some money in case of emergency. You spent the whole lot."

"You're making it sound bad. Like I was selfish. I bought gifts!"

"I know Abs, and your generous soul is one of the many things I love about you. But it is also one of your greatest flaws. Look, I worry about you. My job is a dangerous one. What if something happened to me? Who would be the responsible one with money then? Would you buy anything that you and the kids wanted until there was nothing left? And then what? I know you earn good money but would you really be happy going from paycheck to paycheck, hoping nothing out of the ordinary came up?"

Abby's eyes filled with tears."I didn't think of it like that."

"I know. But that's not entirely your fault. So this is what's going to happen. I'm going to teach you about the financesand when I think that you've got a good understanding of where the money goes, I'll give you your card. But I'm decreasing the limit. OK?"

After the pizza was finished, Tony stood up and started gathering up the plates. "Thank you Tony." Ziva said smiling. " Ok! Dylan, it is time for you to have a shower and put on your pyjamas."

"Nah, I think I'll just watch TV for a while." He said.

Tony stuck his head out from the kitchen and did a double take. He opened his mouth to say something but Ziva winked, to let him know she had this. "No Dylan, you will do it now." Ziva said more forcefully.

"Don't wanna." He said pouting.

"I did not ask you if you would LIKE to have a shower, I told you to do it." Ziva said putting her hands on her hips.

Silence................................ "Make me!"he said.

"If you insist!" Ziva said pulling him to his feet. Grabbing his arm, she frog marched him up the stairs, through his room and into his bathroom. Without letting go of his arm she turned on the shower. Now! Last chance. Will you do this yourself or would you like me to help?"

"NO!!!" Dylan said horrified "I'll do it myself."

"Good choice!" she said kissing him on the head as she left. "If you are quick Dylan you may watch some television before you go to bed."

"YES!!!" he said happily shedding his clothes and jumping in to the shower.

Back downstairs Tony was baffled. "How did you do that? I thought he was about to have a major tantrum."

"I'm used to managing naughty boys." She saucily, flicking him with a teatowel.

"Ah......so you wanna play huh?" he said as Sarah walked into the room.

"Not you two too. Don't you people know there's a time and a place?" she said screwing up her face in disgust.

Tony and Ziva looked at each other and smirked.

Back at the restaurant Abby was looking brighter. "Ok, so that sounds a bit better. I can see why you get upset over the whole money thing and I'll be more careful. So are we good?"

"What do you mean are we good? We're always good as far as I'm concerned Abs. I love you. But if you mean is everything forgotten then the answer is no. It will be, after I spank you. Are you ok with that? Because I think we need to get to the bottom of this once and for all."

"So to speak." Abby said drolly.

"You know what I mean Abs and I'm serious. If you're not happy to handle things like this then you need to tell me now."

"Of course I'm ok with it Timmy. That's just us. If I don't seem to like it much at the time it could just be because it HURTS LIKE HELL!!! But that doesn't mean I want you to stop. I told you last night that you are my safety net. I like it. I like that I can break out and do crazy stuff sometimes and your there to reign me in before I go too far. It's safe. I don't want you to change. As long as you realise that I'm not gonna change either. So you'll probably be spanking me when I'm ninety. If you're not sick of me by then.

"Abby I'll never be sick of you and I don't want you to change anything."

"So the whole ordering the new card behind your bank thing........."

"Yep. Still gonna spank you for that."

"Thought as much. Do I dress for the occasion? I have a couple of really cool outfits I bought while we were away..............."

"Wear something comfortable Abs, you could be there for a while. And I wouldn't wear boots. You'll be standing in the corner."

"OHhh Timmm! I hate corner time."

"Ah well Abby, you do the crime you pay the time."

When they got home they found Tony and Ziva watching TV and both the kids in their rooms. "This is peaceful."

"Well we might just have the touch." Tony said.

"Of course you do Tony! "Abby said jumping onto that statement. "When are you two gonna have your own family?"

"Oh, I don't know. We have not really discussed it in too much detail."

"You should!" Abby said emphatically. "I mean two would be great parents."

"Abby!!!" Tim said.

"It's alright Tim. We've thought about it, we just haven't got past the thinking stage yet. You know, when you two adopted Dyl, it made me think about it."

"Why did you decide to adopt an older child instead of trying for your own baby?" Ziva asked.

Abby and Tim looked at each other. "I didn't know if I was ready for a pregnancy and to do my job which I love and to give a tiny baby the full time care it needs, I don't think I'm ready to juggle all that yet."

"But we wanted to be parents very badly. When we looked into it, there are soooo many children who need, who want to be adopted. It just seemed the natural choice for us."Tim said.

"The saddest and hardest thing is choosing. I wanted to take all of them. As a matter of fact as soon as Dylan has settled into school, and I know he's ok with it,and Sarah of course, I would love to adopt another child."

"You would?" Tim said beaming.

"Yeh I would. Would you?"

"I'd love to have a little girl, with pigtails and dollies. And I think that Dylan would love to be a big brother."

"You think?" Abby said enthusiastically.

"Still here guys!" Tony said putting his hand in there faces. Ziva slapped it away.

"Stop it Tony." She said.

"Sorry Tony, Ziva." Tim said we got a bit carried away.

"I'm only joking. It's an interesting conversation. Isn't it Ziva?"

"It sure is." Ziva said smiling.

"Food for thought. Definitely food for thought. You got that web address?"

"Yeh sure. I'll just get it for you." Tim said hurrying away.

When he came back Ziva and Tony were already standing ready to leave.

"Thanks again guys."Tim said."I really appreciate you minding them.

"It was no problem. Good practice as they say." Ziva said. Tony lifted his eyebrows and then beamed.

"I'll see you both at work tomorrow."

"Thanks guys." Abby said.

When they closed the door, Tim looked at Abby. "Ok. Upstairs and get changed for bed. I'll be up in a minute."

"Oh Tim, it's been such a nice night do we have to spoil it?"

Tim raised his eyebrows and turned Abby towards the stairs giving her a sharp smack to send her on her way. Abby glared. "Spoilsport."

"Sorry Abs? Did you say something?"

"I said see you in a minute my love."

"Yeah right." Tim said to himself chuckling.

After he'd put the last of the glasses in the dishwasher he made his way upstairs. This time Abby wasn't bent on seduction. She was wearing one of Tim's MIT t- shirts and nothing else. Her hair was down and brushed and she looked every bit as sexy as she had last night in her carefully planned outfit. This was hard. Tim did not have a shred of anger left and punishing her was not going to be easy. All he really wanted to do was to lose what was left of her clothing and tumble onto that bed beside her,on top of her, under her. Hell he didn't care.......Giving himself a mental headslap, he got back to the business at hand. Taking her hand he lead her to the corner. "Ten minutes."he said. This gave him time to escape for a quick shower. A cold shower.

After the ten minutes was up Tim came back into the room and sat on the bed."Come here Abby." He said quietly. Taking her hand he pulled her over his knee. "Why are you getting spanked?"

"Because I went behind your back and ordered a new credit card when I wasn't allowed to have one."

"Why weren't you allowed to have one?"

"Because I was irresponsible and I wasted a lot of money."

"Good girl." He said and started the spanking. He lifted up the t-shirt and smacked her very hard on each cheek. Then he spanked rhythmically and evenly all over every inch of her backside until red handprints turned into a uniform red from the top of her bottom to the top of her thighs. Abby was sobbing with her hands over her face. Laying back on the bed he pulled Abby with him until he had wrapped his arms tightly around her and her face was buried in his chest. "I'm sorry Timmy. I'm sorry."

"Shhh he soothed. Your forgiven. It's all over Abs."

"Ti.....m...my?" she sobbed.

"Yeh Abs?"

"Do.... you....Do you think........we could .......really adopt....a....little girl?"

"I think that's a distinct possibility. If that's what you want."

"It...is what I want."

"Then we can look into it I guess."  
"Good."

The End for now.


End file.
